Properties of Matter

Students poured water and cooking oil into a beaker.  The students then added a penny, a plastic paper clip, and a cork to the beaker and recorded their observations.

Order the items from most dense to least dense. 

• Plastic paper clip

• Penny

• Oil

• Water

• Cork

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS1-2

Which property is the best evidence that an object is a metal?

• Malleability

• Transparency

• Conductivity

• Solubility

Which physical property is common to all four objects?

• Conducts electricity

• Attracts metal objects

• Not soluble in water

• Same physical state

Students conduct an investigation with breakfast cereal. The first four steps of the students' investigation are in the table shown: 1. Grind 50 grams of cereal into a fine powder. 2. Stir the cereal powder into 500 milliliters of warm water. 3. Hold a magnet against the side of the beaker at the 250-milliliter mark. 4. Stir the mixture for three minutes. The students are trying to determine the presence of which substance in the cereal?

• Sugar

• Iron

• Salt

• Wheat

Students drop the same heavy ball onto identical blocks of soft clay from different heights. For each height they measure the depth of the dent the ball makes in the clay.

Why is the depth of the dent different in each trial?

• The size of the ball changes.

• The material (type of matter) of the ball changes.

• The mass of the ball changes.

• The force of the ball when it hits the clay changes.

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS2-1

NGSS.MS-PS2-2

Which procedure should students include in their design?

• Conduct 5 trials, using a different scale to pull each block of wood.

• Conduct 5 trials, using a different table for each trial.

• Conduct 5 trials, pulling a different side of each block each time.

• Conduct 5 trials, pulling each block of wood in the same way for each trial.

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS2-2

The diagram (picture) shows two trials of an experiment in which a spring scale was used to measure force.

This experiment can determine (figure out) -

• how mass affects (changes) the force needed to move objects

• how force affects (changes) the mass of two objects

• how the force used to pull a dictionary affects (changes) the mass of a box of marbles

• how the mass of a box of marbles affects (changes) the mass of a dictionary

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS2-2

Which state of matter has a definite volume but no definite shape?

• Solid

• Liquid

• Gas

• Plasma

What is the process called when a solid turns directly into a gas?

• Melting

• Sublimation

• Condensation

• Evaporation

Which property of matter is measured in kilograms?

• Volume

• Density

• Mass

• Temperature