Properties of Matter

Properties of Matter

• Matter is anything, such as a solid, liquid or gas that has weight (mass) and occupies space.
• For anything to occupy space, it must have volume viz. everything on earth is matter

Properties of Matter

• All properties of matter are either physical or chemical

• Physical properties can be measured without changing a substance’s chemical identity
• Chemical properties can be measured only by changing a substance’s chemical identity

• Physical properties are further divided into intensive or extensive

• Extensive properties, such as mass and volume, depend on the amount of matter being measured.
• Intensive properties, such as density and color, do not depend on the amount of the substance present.

States of Matter

Solids

• Are tightly packed, usually in a regular pattern
• Incompressible + fixed volume + Fixed shape
• Solid particles vibrate (jiggle) but generally do not move from place to place

Liquids

• Liquids are close together with no regular arrangement
• Incompressible – No fixed shape but definite volume
• Liquids vibrate, move about, and slide past each other.
• Assumes the shape of the part of the container which it occupies

Gases

• Are well separated with no regular arrangement
• Highly compressible – No fixed Shape or volume
• Vibrate and move freely at high speeds.
• Assumes the shape and volume of its container

Plasma

• Occurs at high temp. & low pressure
• Atoms break into ions & free electrons, Forms a glowing state e.g. Inside sun / stars
• Consists of highly charged particles with extremely high kinetic energy
• Gases in neon sign board > fluorescent tube ionize to form plasma when electricity is passed through them

Bose Einstein condensate

• Occurs on cooling an atom of very low density at very low temp.
• Using a combination of lasers and magnets, Eric Cornell and Carl Weiman cooled a sample of rubidium to within a few degrees of absolute zero.
• At this extremely low temperature, molecular motion comes very close to stopping altogether.
• Since there is almost no kinetic energy being transferred from one atom to another, the atoms begin to clump together.
• There are no longer thousands of separate atoms, just one “super atom.”
• Least energy among all five states

BEC is used to study quantum mechanics on a macroscopic level. Light appears to slow down as it passes through a BEC, allowing study of the particle/wave paradox. A BEC also has many of the properties of a superfluid — flowing without friction.

For more updates, explore the Physics. Feel free to share your thoughts and comments.

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