Monday, September 27, 2010

It's... MATTER!

So what is MATTER?
Matter is ANYTHING that has mass or takes up space!

The two types of matter: pure substances and mixtures.

Pure substances have one set of properties and one kind of particle like elements (made up of metal, non metal, and metalloid atoms) and compounds (ionic or covalently combined atoms)

Mixtures are made up of more than one set of properties or substances. They can either be homogeneous (they are uniform and appear as though they are one component e.g. the glass of milk) or heterogeneous (don't appear uniform, as though they have more than one component e.g. the salad dressing)

CHANGES TO MATTER!

Matter can change in two ways - physically or chemically.

You can tell that a change is physical when no new substances have been formed and the change that has resulted can be reversed.

You can tell that a change is chemical when new substances are produced and the result is irreversible.

Here's a great song to teach you about physical and chemical changes!



Some more facts about matter!
-Matter cannot be created or destroyed
-There are three states of matter - solid (rigid, doesn't change shape easily), liquid (takes the shape of the container), and gas (moves freely)

PLASMA is often considered and fourth state of matter. It is similar to gas but flows like a liquid. Plasma is something you would find in neon signs like this one:

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