What Is Matter?

Chapter 1 Worksheet 1.1-1 1Copyright © 2010 by Nelson Education Ltd.

Think about the things you see and touch every day.You may see trees and cars. You may touch paper,wood, and stone. What are these things made of?

All the objects around you are made of matter. Yourbody is made of matter. Even air is made of matter!Matter is anything that has mass and takes up space.Look at Figure 1 to find more kinds of matter.

Key Question: What is matter made of and

how does it behave?

TURN

1.1

Figure 1 What kinds of matter can you see?

THE SCIENCE OF MATTERThe study of matter and its changes is called chemistry.Scientists who work in chemistry are called chemists.

Chemists study matter. Chemists can often imitate, orcopy, the matter found in nature using artificialchemicals.

Artificial chemicals can be good for people. Forexample, some medicines are made from matter inplants. Chemists can also use artificial chemicals tomake medicines that cost less. The medicines withartificial chemicals are often purer than the medicinesmade from plants.

matter

anything that takes upspace and has mass

chemistry

the study of matterand its changes

2 Chapter 1 Worksheet 1.1-1 Copyright © 2010 by Nelson Education Ltd.

Not all artificial chemicals are better, though. Forexample, lemonade made with real lemons has a lot ofvitamin C. Vitamin C is very good for people.Lemonade made with artificial flavour does not usuallyhave as much vitamin C.

THE MAKEUP OF MATTERAll matter is made of very tiny particles. You can seethe particles only with a very strong microscope.These particles do not always look like the matter theymake up.

Look at Figure 2. Aluminum foil looks smooth andshiny. It is made of aluminum particles. Now look atFigure 3. With a very strong microscope, you wouldsee tiny bumps in the foil. These bumps showaluminum particles.

Figure 2 Aluminum is made of just one kind of matter. Figure 3 A powerful microscopeshows the particles in aluminum.

particle theory of

matter

an explanation ofwhat matter is madeof and how itbehaves; the particletheory states that allmatter is made up oftiny particles that arealways moving, thatattract each other, andthat have spacebetween them

THE PARTICLE THEORY OF MATTERScientists use the particle theory of matter (alsoknown as the “particle theory”) to explain what theyknow about matter. Table 1 lists the main ideas of theparticle theory.

Chapter 1 Worksheet 1.1-1 3Copyright © 2010 by Nelson Education Ltd.

TURN

You can use the particle theory to explain many thingsyou see. Think about what happens in the followingexample.

You place a drop of foodcolouring in a cup of waterwithout stirring. The foodcolouring and particles of watermix together. Why?

Solution: The particle theory statesthat particles are moving all thetime. The particles of foodcolouring and the particles of watermove around. This causes theparticles to mix together, evenwithout stirring (Figure 4).

Main idea Illustration

1. All matter is made up of tinyparticles.

2. Particles have empty spacesbetween them.

3. Even though you cannot seethem, particles are movingrandomly all the time.

4. Particles move faster andspread farther apart when theyare heated.

5. Particles attract each other, sothey tend to stay together ratherthan fly apart.

Table 1 The Particle Theory

Figure 4 Particles move and bump into each other all the time.

1. What is matter made of?

2. How do chemists use artificial chemicals? Give one example.

3. Why is the particle theory important?

4. Think back to the Key Question at the beginning of the section. What haveyou learned about matter? How do particles of matter behave?

4 Chapter 1 Worksheet 1.1-1 Copyright © 2010 by Nelson Education Ltd.

CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING

END

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