What is Matter?

What is Matter?

Key Concept: Matter is anything that has mass and takes up space. Matter can be described in terms of its volume, mass, and weight.

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​Understanding what matter is and how units are used to describe matter can help you understand the structure of the physical world.

Multiple Choice

 Matter can be described in terms of.....

• mass

• volume

• weight

• all answers are correct

What do these items have in common?

What do you have in common with a toaster, a steaming bowl of soup, or a bright neon sign? You might think that this is a trick question. It is hard to believe that a person has anything in common with a kitchen appliance, hot soup, or a neon sign.

​Matter

​From a scientific point of-view, you have at least one char­acteristic in common with a toaster, a bowl, soup, steam, and the glass tubing and glowing gas of a neon sign. You and these items are each made of matter. But exactly what is matter? Matter is anything that has mass and takes up space.

Multiple Choice

What do you have in common with a toaster, a bowl of soup, and a neon sign?

• nothing

• luster

• luminance

• we are made of matter

Multiple Choice

What is matter?

•  matter is anything that has sugar and takes up space.

•  matter is anything that has mass and takes up spice.

•  matter is anything that has mass and takes up space.

​Matter and Volume

All matter takes up space.  The amount of space that an object takes up, or occupies, is known as the object's volume. Your fingers, the continent of Africa, and a cloud have volume. And because these things have volume, they cannot occupy the same space at the same time.  Even the tiniest piece of dust takes up space. Another piece of dust cannot fit into that space without somehow bumping the first piece out of the way. The figure below shows an example of how two objects cannot be in the same space at the same time.

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Multiple Choice

Voulme is defined as....

• the  amount  of  matter  that  an object has

• the  amount  of  space  that  an object takes up

• solid, liquid and gas

Multiple Choice

Can two objects occupy the same space at the same time?

• no

• yes

• maybe

​Liquid Volume

​Lake Erie, the smallest of the Great Lakes, has a volume of about 483 trillion liters (483,000,000,000,000 L) of water. Can you picture that much water? Think of a 1.5 L bottle of water. The water in Lake Erie could fill more than 322 trillion 1.5 L bottles. On a smaller scale, an ordinary canned drink has a volume of only 0.355 L, which is about one­ third of a liter. You can estimate the volume of the can by using a large measuring cup to measure the amount of liquid that a full can holds.

Multiple Choice

What is the volume of Lake Erie?

• 483 thousand liters

• 483 million liters

• 483 billion liters

• 483 trillion liters

​Measuring Liquids

​The liter (L) is the SI unit for volume. Often, small volumes of liquid are expressed in milliliters (mL). Remem­ber that 1 L equals 1,000 mL. Any volume of liquid, from one drop of rain to a bottle of water to an ocean, can be expressed in liters or milliliters.

Multiple Choice

Which metric unit do we use to measure liquid volume?

• liters

• grams

• meters

• gallons

​Volume of Regularly Shaped Solids

​The volume of any solid object is expressed in cubic units. The word cubic means "having three dimensions." In science, cubic meters (m³) and cubic centimeters (cm³) are the units most often used for the volume of solid things.

Multiple Choice

What does "cubic" mean?

• having one dimension

• having two dimensions

• having three dimensions

Multiple Choice

What units do we use to measure the volume of solids?

• cubic meters and cubic centimeters

• cubic liters and cubic centiliters

• cubic grams and cubic centigrams

​Multiply the Three Dimensions

​The 3 in these unit symbols shows that three quantities, or dimensions, were multiplied to get the final result. You can see the three dimen­sions of a cubic meter below.

You can use formulas to find the volume of regularly shaped objects. For example, to find the volume (V) of a cube or another rectangular object, use the length (l), width (w), and height (h) of the object in the following equation: V =  l  X w  X h

Multiple Choice

What are the three dimensions of a regularly shaped solid?

• length

  width

  volume

• mass

  width

  volume

• density

  width

  meters

• length

  width

  height

Multiple Choice

What is the formula for volume?

• V = l x w x h

• V = g x w x h

• V = l x w x m

​Using Area to find Volume

But you don't need to know all three measurements to find volume. The area of the base of a cube or another rectangular object is equal to length times width. So, if you know the area (A) and the height (h), you can find the volume (V), by using the following equation:

V = A x h

​Volume of an Irregularly Shaped Solid

​How do you find the volume of a solid that does not have a regular shape? One way to find the volume of an irregularly shaped solid object is to use water displacement.

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​When a 12-sided object is added to the water in a graduated cylinder, the water level rises. The level rises because the object pushes water out of  the way.  This process of pushing water out of the way is called  displacement.  The volume of water displaced by the object is equal to the object's volume.

Multiple Choice

What is one way to find the volume of irregularly shaped solids?

• disappointment

• displacement

• density

• desirability

Multiple Choice

How much water is in the empty graduated cylinder?

• 15 mL

• 16 mL

• 17 mL

• 18 mL

Multiple Choice

What is the volume of the button? (Are the units for solids and liquids the same or different?

• 19 mL

• 15 mL

• 2 mL

• 2 cm³

Multiple Choice

What is the volume of the battery?

• 5 mL

• 19 cm³

• 19 mL

• 5 cm³

Multiple Choice

What is the volume of the nail?

• 1 cm³

• 1 mL

• 18 mL

• 18 cm³

Multiple Choice

What is the volume of the marble?

• 20 cm³

• 20 mL

• 3 mL

• 3 cm³

Multiple Choice

Let's say that the mass of the marble is six grams. What would the density be of the marble?

• 12 g

• 12 g/cm³

• 2 cm³/g

• 2 g/cm³

​Volumes of Solids & Liquids

​Because 1 mL is equal to 1 cm³ you can give the vol­ume of the water displaced by the object in cubic centimeters. Volumes of liquids can be given in cubic units, but volumes of solids should not be given in liters or milliliters.

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​1 mL = 1 cm³

​What About the Floaters?

​Using displacement to find the volume of an object that floats is more difficult. To do so, you must use another object to hold the floating object underwater. Only push it down until it is barely underwater; never push it to the bottom. Then, you must subtract the volume of the object holding the floating object. Displace­ment cannot be used to find the volume of something that dissolves in water.

Multiple Choice

How do you find the volume of objects that float?

• hold the floater down with your finger

• you don't

• hold the floater down with a second object

Multiple Choice

Which liquid is the most dense?

• 1

• 2

• 3

• 4

Multiple Choice

Which liquid is the least dense?

• 1

• 2

• 3

• 4

The density of water

Water is the most important liquid in the universe. Obviously human beings and other forms of animal life cannot exist without it. The key thing to remember is that the density of pure liquid water is 1.0 g/mL. Ice, because it is much colder, expands and thus has a lower density of .91 g/cm³. Noticed that the units are different because water is a liquid and ice is a solid.

Multiple Choice

What is the density of liquid water?

• .91 cm³

• 1.0 mL

• .91 g/mL

• 1.0 g/mL

Multiple Choice

What is the density of pure ice?

• .91 g/cm³

• .91 g/mL

• 1 g/mL

• 1 g/cm³