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1-Reading Material-What Is Matter

1-reading material-what is matter

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Roda Aranquez Rabino
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4 views

1-Reading Material-What Is Matter

1-reading material-what is matter

Uploaded by

Roda Aranquez Rabino
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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READING MATERIAL NO. 1: WHAT IS MATTER?

Everything in the universe is composed of matter or energy. Matter exists in its elemental form, such
as carbon, mercury, iron, copper, gold, silver, etc., or in molecular form, such as water, wood, food, clothes,
etc. Matter can also exist in the form of mixtures, such as air, which is a mixture of gases in their elemental
form (nitrogen, oxygen) and in molecular form (carbon dioxide, water vapor). We call the most fundamental
units of matter atoms.

An atom is the smallest particle of matter that by itself can combine with other like or different
particles, or atoms. Elements are groups or combinations of like atoms, while molecules are combinations of
like or different atoms. Matter has two essential properties — it has mass and it has volume, it occupies space.
Mass is the amount of “stuff” something is made of. Mass has inertia, which is the resistance of matter to
change in its state of rest or state of motion. Sometimes mass is referred to as “weight”. Weight is a property
of matter that changes, depending on where matter is weighed. Large bodies, such as the earth, the sun, the
planets and the moon, have their own gravity that attracts anything that is close to them. When we weigh
ourselves on earth, we are measuring the attraction of the earth on our body. Our weight does depend on
how much “matter” we have, but it changes depending on where we weigh ourselves — on what is attracting
our body. For example, our weight would be less if we weighed ourselves on the moon and more if we
weighed ourselves on the sun! The mass of our bodies, the stuff we are made of, however, does not change.

All matter is either a solid, a liquid or a gas. Elements exist in any of these three forms — i.e. gold,
mercury (liquid form of the element) and oxygen. Matter can change its form, but under normal processes,
matter in its elemental form cannot be destroyed. Under a physical change, charcoal (element, carbon)
remains a solid even when powdered. Water (in molecular form) has the unusual property of changing easily
to any of the three states of matter. Students can see that when water becomes a gas it is invisible.
Substances can also exist as mixtures, in which each of the individual components maintains its properties.
Milk is a mixture of substances that we can separate into their original form. Cereals, like Fruit Loops or trail
mix, are good examples of mixtures, since students can see and easily separate each of the individual
components. When an egg breaks or is beaten, however, it is very difficult to see the original components and
impossible to separate, but nevertheless this is a mixture because it was changed physically only. Breaking an
object is one example of physical change.

Elements combine to form various substances in a process that is not only physical, but chemical also.
When elements, such as carbon and hydrogen combine with oxygen, for instance, they burn and form
compounds. Compounds are combinations of elements that have joined through chemical changes. When we
cook an egg, for example, the nature of the egg changes. Cooking is an example of chemical change. When
matter changes from one form to another and back, as ice melting to form water and then water freezing back
into ice, we have an example of two inverse operations. The notion of inverse operations is a mathematical
notion, also. For example, addition and subtraction are inverse operations, because one “undoes” the other.
On the other hand, there are some operations that have no inverse operation, for example, cooking an egg.
There are other operations that are their own inverses, for example, pressing the power button for “off “ and
for “on” on a TV set.

GUIDE QUESTIONS:
1. Based on the reading material, define the word “matter.”
2. According to the article, matter exists in different forms. Define the following forms of matter:
a. Elements
b. Molecule
c. Mixture
3. What are the two essential properties of matter? Describe each property of matter.
4. There are three states of matter; draw how the particles of the matter look like in solids, liquids and
gases.

CSolids CLiquids GasesC


5. According to the article, matter can change its form, but under normal processes; matter in its
elemental form cannot be destroyed. Explain the two changes in which matter undergoes. Give some
examples.

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