CLASSIFICATION OF MATTER

STATES OF MATTER
 Matter can be identified by its
characteristic inertial and
gravitational mass and the space
that it occupies. On earth matter
is commonly found in four
different states: solid, liquid, gas
and plasma.
SOLID - Something that has
definite volume & shape
- Resists any change in its
shape
- The molecules are very
closed to each other
Example:
• Metal
• Solid brick wall
 More about Solids
• External forces can be applied to the solid and
compress the material
– In the model, the springs would be compressed
– When the force is removed, the solid returns to its
original shape and size
– Elasticity
 Crystalline Solid
• Atoms have an ordered structure
• This example is salt
– Violet spheres represent Na+ ions
– Red spheres represent Cl- ions
 Amorphous Solid
• Atoms are arranged almost randomly
• Examples include glass
LIQUID
- Has no definite shape
on its own
- It does have definite
volume
- Molecules are not so
closed

Example:
• water
 More about Liquid
• Exists at a higher temperature than solids
• The molecules “wander” through the liquid in
a random fashion
– The intermolecular forces are not strong enough
to keep the molecules in a fixed position
GAS - Something that expands to
fill any container it is in.
- Does not have its own
volume & shape.
- Have its own weight.
- Molecules are very far
from each other

Example:
• Air
• Empty rubber balloon filled
with air
PLASMA - Gas heated to a very high
temperature
- Many of the electrons are
freed from the nucleus
- Result is a collection of
free, electrically charged
ions
- Plasmas exist inside stars

Example:
• Stars (Sun)
• Lightning
• Welding arcs
 Types of Matter
• Normal matter
– About 5% of total matter
• Dark matter
– Affects the motion of stars in galaxies
– May be as much as 25% of total matter
• Dark energy
– Accounts for acceleration of the expansion of the
universe
– May be as much as 70% of all matter
Density of Matter
 Density of Matter
• The densities of most liquids and solids vary
slightly with changes in temperature and
pressure
• Densities of gases vary greatly with changes in
temperature and pressure
• The higher normal densities of solids and
liquids compared to gases imply that the
average spacing between molecules in a gas is
about 10x greater than the solid or liquid
 Example 1
• An object has a mass of 750g and a volume of
5.0 x 10-4 m3.
 Example 2
• You have a rock with a volume of 15cm3 and a
mass of 45 g. What is its density?
 Example 3
• A rectangular block of copper metal weighs
1896 g. The dimensions of the block are 8.4
cm by 5.5 cm by 4.6 cm. From this data, what
is the density of copper?
 Example 4
• The density of copper is 8.933 g/cm3. What is
the mass of a sample of copper with a volume
of 10.00 cm3?
 Example 5
• If the mass of an object is 35 grams and it
takes up 7 cm3 of space, calculate the density.
 Example 6
• A block of lead has dimensions of 4.50 cm by
5.20 cm by 6.00 cm. The block weighs 1587 g.
From this information, calculate the density of
lead.
 Example 7
• What volume of silver metal will weigh exactly
2500.0 g. The density of silver is 10.5 g/cm3.