What is Matter?

Everything we see around us: Matter is… Everything we see around us: Glass Metal Plastic Bones Breath

Matter can be sorted into three groups: Solid - Like a brick Liquid - Like water gas- Like air Gas

A solid doesn’t take the shape of a flask So when you put a ball into a flask it doesn’t fill it up or take the shape of the flask - it just stays as a ball in the flask

However a liquid does take the shape of a flask but doesn’t fill it up So if we put the same liquid into different containers the liquid changes to be the same shape as the inside of the container but it doesn’t fill it right up

A gas takes the shape of a flask and fills it up completely The same is true for air in a room – air will expand to completely fill a room, so we can breath everywhere. If it didn’t we would only be able to breath in certain places in the room where there was air, and we would have to hold our breath in other parts where there wasn’t any air.

If we heat most solids we can turn them into liquids For example if we heat a beaker of ice (solid) it turns into a beaker of water (liquid)

If we heat most liquids we can turn them into gasses For example boiling Water turns into Steam

Also, if we cool most liquids they become solids For example if it’s cold enough rain will turn into snow

And if we cool most gasses they become liquids Power stations release hot steam which is cooled by cooling towers and forms rain clouds which return the water back to earth when it rains