Almost everything that exists on Earth consists of matter. Matter is anything that has mass and volume.

Mass is a measure of the amount of

matter an object or a body contains. Volume is a measure of the amount of space an object or a body takes up. Because your body has a mass
and you occupy space, you yourself are matter! The only things that are not matter are forms of energy because they do not have mass and
they do not take up space. Examples of energy are the light and heat from the sun and the sound heard from a radio. Matter exists in three
states: solid, liquid and gas.

Matter has different properties or characteristics that are suitable for producing useful and valuable materials with the use of energy. The
usefulness of materials largely depends on their properties.

The properties of matter can be categorized as physical or chemical.

The physical properties of matter are those that can be observed and measured without changing the identity of a substance. In the previous
grade levels, you already learned about some of these properties such as size, weight, mass, volume, color, shape, state, and density.

The term MASS and WEIGHT may be confusing. You may have heard someone say that she has a weight of 35 kgs. In Science, MASS and
WEIGHT mean very different things. The interaction between mass and gravity creates weight. Gravity is a very strong force that pulls two
objects toward each other. It is a force that keeps you on the ground and cause object to fall.

The other properties are… You can identify these properties by observation and by doing some simple tests and measurement.

Tensile strength…amount of load or stress that can be handled by a material before it stretches and breaks. Steel and concrete have high
tensile strength. They are used to make things that need to be sturdy like construction materials for buildings, bridges and houses.

Porosity

Elasticity

Flexibility

Malleability…Most metals are malleable because they can be bent and molded into different shapes. Examples of malleable metals are gold,
silver, iron, aluminum, lead, and copper. Gold is the most malleable among all know metals.

Ductility is the ability of a solid material to be stretched or shaped under tensile stress. Tensile stress is any force that pulls the to end of a
material away from each other. Ductile materials can be stretched into long, thin wires or rods without breaking. For the same reason that
most metals are malleable, most metals are also ductile because the particles that make them up can roll over one another and change position
without breaking. Examples of ductile metals are gold, silver, aluminum, lead, copper, steel, and platinum. The most ductile metal is
platinum. It can be stretched into a wire so thin that it is invisible to the naked eyed. Platinum is often used in electrical circuits, laboratory
apparatus, jewelry and dental work.

Solubility refers to the ability of a substance to dissolve in other substances. A substance being dissolved is called solute, while a substance
(mostly liquid) that dissolves the solute is called a solvent. A mixture of a solute and a solvent is called a solution.

Brittleness.. Brittle materials have poor capacity to resist impact. Good examples include, glass, concrete, ceramic, and stone.

Hardness…Diamond is one of the hardest materials on Earth. In fact, diamond is so hard that only another diamond can be used to scratch it.

Transparency is the ability of materials to allow light to pass through them. Materials may be described as transparent, translucent, or opaque.
When light encounters transparent materials, almost all of it passes through them. In transparent materials, light is not scattered or absorbed
but is directly let through the materials. Examples are water, air, and clear glass. Materials are translucent or semi-transparent when they
allow some light to pass through them. In translucent materials, light is not absorbed but is scattered to different directions as it passes
through. Objects lying beyond translucent materials are not clearly visible. Example: frosted glass, thin sheet of plastics, and light colored
liquids. Materials are opaque when they do not let light pass through them. Here, most of the light is absorbed, while some are reflected back.
Most materials are opaque. You cannot see through them. Metals, wood, stones and leather are examples of opaque materials.

Conductibility is the ability of a material to allow heat and/or electricity to flow through it freely and quickly. For example, imagine you pour
hot chocolate drink into a Styrofoam cup and into an aluminum cup. When you hold the cups in each hand, which container do you think
would feel hotter? The aluminum cup would be hotter because it is a metal, and therefore has higher heat transferability. Metals are good
conductors because the particles that make them up are arrange very close to one another, allowing them to pass along heat or electricity quite
well. Examples of good conductors are silver, copper, aluminum, gold, zinc, nickle and brass. Silver is the best conductor of both heat and
electricity among metals, but because silver tarnishes, copper is considered as more desirable and efficient to use as conductor. Aside from
being a good conductor of heat and electricity, copper is also less expensive.