1 MATTER MATTERS The passage you are going to read starts by saying, Everything that has mass and takes up space is matter; however, there are some things that do not consist of matter . In groups, decide whether the following things are matter or non-matter . Write M for matter and NM for nonmatter in the boxes below. air clouds energy gravity heat iron love Mars microwaves a person rainbow reflections a rock sound a spider the Sun sunlight time a tree water THE SUBSTANCE OF THE UNIVERSE Everything that has mass and takes up space is matter; however, there are some things that do not consist of matter. All substances consist of matter but any type of energy or any abstract concept is something that is not matter. The basic chemical building blocks of matter are elements. A chemical element is a material which cannot be broken down or changed into another substance using chemical means. Four states of matter can be observed in everyday life: solid, liquid, gas and plasma. Each of these states is also known as a phase. The different states of matter have different physical properties. A solid has a rigid shape and a fixed volume. The particles of a solid cannot move and are already so tightly packed together that increasing pressure will not compress the solid to a smaller volume. A liquid has a fixed volume but no rigid shape and it takes the shape of its container. Its particles are close together and can move. Liquids, like solids, cannot be compressed. They diffuse quite easily but not as easily as a gas. Another property common to liquids is surface tension, a force of attraction that keeps molecules together causing tension. A gas is a form of matter that has no definite volume or shape. Its volume is very sensitive to temperature and pressure. Gases have low density and diffuse easily. If unconfined, the particles of a gas will spread out indefinitely; if confined, the gas will expand to fill its container. The characteristics of plasmas are significantly different from those of ordinary gases, so that plasmas are considered a distinct fourth state of matter. Plasma consists of highly charged particles with extremely high kinetic energy. While plasma is not a common state of matter on Earth (but may be the most common state of matter in the universe), man-made plasmas are everywhere. Many other states of matter are known to exist only in extreme environments such as BEC (Bose-Einstein Condensates), referred to as the fifth state of matter and scientists will probably discover more states as they continue to explore the Universe. When specific physical conditions such as temperature, pressure, and other physical forces change, matter can move from one phase to another: solids may melt into liquids (fusion / melting) solids may sublimate into gases (sublimation) liquids may vaporise into gases (vaporisation / boiling) liquids may freeze into solids (freezing) gases may condense into liquids (condensation) gases may deposit into solids (deposition). ONLINE RESOURCES 64 Module 1 Everything in and around us