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What is matter?
What is matter?
Matter is what things are made of.
Two properties all matter has got are:
Volume.
Mass.
Volume:
It is the space matter takes up, the space objects occupy.
All matter ocupies some space, it has volume. Even things like air occupy space (We said air is matter).
Mass:
The amount of matter an object has.
It is different from weight. Weight depends on gravity. Let's see it with this example:
A school table is made of wood and iron.
If we take the table to the moon (or to any part of space) the amount of wood and iron is the same. So the mass is the same.
But if we weigh it in the moon it will weigh less because things are lighter in the moon. But the amount of wood and iron is the same than before.
If we take it to the space, far away from stars and planets the weight will be almost zero but the amount of wood and iron is still the same.
By the way... Is air matter?
We will answer it for you.... YES!!!
So, as it is matter, it has mass. On Earth, to measure the amount of mass we weigh the object.
Difference between mass and weight:
Tools to measure the weight and the mass:
As the song says:
To measure the mass, we use a balance. The units we use can be grams or kilograms.
To measure weight, we use a scale. The unit we use is the Newton.
Apart from these tools, we can use other kind of scales to measure weight:
Also, the song talks about Gravity. but... What is Gravity and who discovered it?
Atoms and molecules.
Atoms are the smallest piece of matter we can find. They can join and create molecules.
For example, we all know that water is H2O.
That means water molecules are formed by two atoms of Hydrogen (H2) and one atom of Oxygen (O).
States of matter.
Solid state:
When atoms or molecules have little energy, they are very close one to each other.
They behave like magnets and attract between them so the union is very hard.
In this case we have a solid:
Solids have definite shape, definite mass and definite volume.
They can't change the shape unless we apply some energy.
Liquid state
When atoms or molecules have a little bit of energy, they start moving so that they separate a little bit one from the other. The energy that attracts them becomes a little bit weaker so the union is not so hard and the shape starts changing.
In this case we have a liquid:
Liquids have definite mass and definite volume but NOT definite shape.
They change the shape just by moving them.
Gas:
When atoms or molecules have a lot of energy, they move fast so the energy that used to keep them together now is not working.
Atoms or molecules are free to move anywhere.
In this case we have a gas:
Gases DO NOT have definite volume or shape, but they DO have definite mass.
Gases always occupy all the space they have.
Gases behave like liquids many times as you can see in this video.
Matter changes:
Depending on the way matter turns into a different state, we can call these processes in eight different ways. These changes are produced when there is an increase or decrease of temperature:
ACTIVITY:
Plasma:
When atoms have much more energy, they move much faster than in a gas, they start crashing into each other and some atoms loose electrons. That means some energy is produced. Fire, the sun and the aurora borealis, are some examples of plasma.
In this case we have plasma state:
Plasma does NOT have definite shape or volume.´
Properties of matter.
What makes different one type of matter to another one.
Thermal conductivity
How easy to heat a material is.
A good thermal conductor is that material that is easy to be heated, that allows heat to pass quickly through it
A bad thermal conductor (or thermal insulator) is that material that is difficult to be heated, that makes heat to pass slow through it.
Electrical conductivity
How easy for electricity is to pass through a material.
A good electrical conductor is that material that allows electricity go through very easily.
A bad electrical conductor (or electrical insulator) is a material that doesn't allow electricity go through it.
Solubility
How easy is to disolve (mix) a material in a liquid.
Some materials cannot be mixed or disolved in another liquid (insoluble materials).
Some other materials, when we mix them they look as if they dissapear.
Hardness
How much energy it takes to deform or scratch a material.
The opposite of hard is weak.
Toughness (fragility)
How much total energy takes to break a material.
The opposite of tough is fragile.
There is a big difference between hardness and toughness. One
material can be very hard because it is difficult to be scratched (like diamonds), but, at the same time can be very fragil because you can easily break it (as it happens with diamonds).
DENSITY
Density is the amount of mass in a specified space. It's the how heavy an object is for its size (volume). That means: it's how compact an object is.
Archimedes
Archimedes
Archimedes principle
Archimedes principle
Two mistakes in the previous game:
It says matter is anything that has weight and volume. The correct word is MASS instead of weight.
It says gases have NOT got a definite mass. That is NOT correct. if we have liquid water and we transform it into gas water, the amount of water we will have is the same than before. The shape and the volume will change but not the amount of water.
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