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For example, an ice cube (solid water) left on a bench at room temperature
quickly changes to liquid water, whereas a jet of steam (gaseous water)
from the spout of a boiling kettle changes to liquid water when directed onto
a cold surface.
Classifying matter
Another way of thinking about matter is from the chemist’s viewpoint. The
following diagram shows a way of classifying matter with elements and
compounds very much in mind.
To see how this classification system works, let us take two examples:
● How does milk fit into this system? Milk has a uniform composition,
and it is a solution (homogeneous). Filtering the milk will separate out
suspended solids (proteins and lipids), leaving behind a clear liquid.
The application of various separation techniques to this liquid yields
numerous categories of chemical compound. Milk is a complex
mixture of substances.
● How does golden beach sand fit into this system? Most of the grains
of golden beach sand are either light-coloured feldspar or clear
quartz. Beach sand has a non-uniform composition, but the grains
can be physically separated into mineral groupings. Sand minerals
are chemical compounds.
For each of these states, the higher the temperature, the faster the
particles move.
In the 1920s, two scientists, Satyendra Bose and Albert Einstein, predicted
the existence of a state of matter at the extreme low-energy end of the
temperature scale. They called this state ‘Bose-Einstein condensate’.
There are only a few selected elements and subatomic particles that can
reach this state. It was not until 1995 that two scientists, Cornell and
Weiman, were able to make this condensate from atoms of rubidium.