UNIT 2: MATTER AND ITS PROPERTIES

1. WHAT IS MATTER?

-MATTER HAS DIMENSIONS: it occupies a space.

-MATTER HAS INERTIA, that is, it offers resistance to changes to its state of rest or movement.
This inertia is greater when the quantity of matter present is higher (more mass, more inertia).

-MATTER IS THE CAUSE OF GRAVITY, which is the force of attraction acting on objects even
though they are separated by great distances. Gravity makes objects fall to the ground, planets
move around the Sun, causes the tides, the formation of planets, stars, galaxies.

Every form of matter with its own clear boundaries is called a PHYSICAL BODY. e.g. a rock.

Every form of matter without its own morphology and whose boundaries are imprecise is
called a PHYSICAL SYSTEM. e.g. a cloud.

2. MATTER AT DIFFERENT SCALES

-MACROSCOPIC PROPERTIES visible to the naked eye, such as colour, shape, mass and
hardness.

-MICROSCOPIC PROPERTIES invisible to the naked eye, such as the arrangement of its
particles.

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-DIRECT OBSERVATION. This requires the use of the correct instruments, such as an optical,
microscopic or the more modern, scanning tunnelling microscope.

-INDIRECT OBSERVATION. Through observable experimental evidence at the macroscopic

scale, we can derive models and establish laws and theories that describe the behaviour of
matter at a microscopic level.

SCIENTIFIC NOTATION (solo ejercicios de estas dos páginas)

3. MEASUREMENT.

The properties of matter that we can measure are called QUANTITATIVE PROPERTIES. A
quantity is anything that can be measured

The properties of matter that we can’t measure are called QUALITATIVE PROPERTIES.

Measuring is comparing a property with a standard of measurement defined for that property.
This standard is called a unit of measurement. A unit of measurement is the standard by which
we measure a quantity:

 They must be stable

 They must be universal
 They must be easily understood so that they can be used by everyone.
 T h e I nt er n ati o n al S y s t e m o f U nit s

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 The International System of Units

The following table shows some of the SI derived quantities

4. MASS, VOLUME AND DENSITY.

MASS is related to the amount of matter and its value measures a body’s inertia and the
gravitational pull that it exerts. Its SI unit is the kilogram (kg).
Warning! Mass and weight are not the same. Weight is the force with which the Earth (or
any other celestial body) attracts a body to itself, whereas a body’s mass measures its
inertia. We measure weight in Newton (N).

VOLUME of a physical body is defined as the space that the body occupies. The unit of
measurement of volume in SI units is the cubic metre (m3), which is the equivalent of the
volume of a cube measuring 1m at its sides. Remember: 1L = 1 dm3

DENSITY of a substance is defined as the relationship between its mass and its volume. Density
is mass divided by volume.

Therefore, the unit of density in SI units is kg/m3.

Warning! Density and viscosity are not the same VISCOSITY is the fluid’s resistance to flow,
to move. For example, oil is more viscous but less dense than water.