Nature & States

of
Matter
OBJECTIVE:

Describe and/or make a

representation of the
arrangement, relative spacing,
and relative motion of the
particles in each of the three phases of matter.
 ANCIENT PHILOSOPHERS’ UNDERSTANDING ABOUT
MATTER:
• Anaximenes of Miletus – (c. 545 BCE)
was an Ancient Greek, Ionian Pre-Socratic
philosopher from Miletus in Asia Minor,
active in the latter half of the 6th century
BC. He asserted that this primal element
was air; he is best known for his doctrine
that air is the source of all things.

• Thales of Miletus – (c. 6th century BCE)

was a Greek mathematician, astronomer
and pre-Socratic philosopher from Miletus
in Ionia, Asia Minor. He was one of the
Seven Sages of Greece; thought it was
water as the source of everything.
• Heraclitus (c. 540-480 BCE)
• was an ancient Greek, pre-Socratic, Ionian philosopher and a
native of the city of Ephesus, which was then part of the
Persian Empire.
• A remembered for his cosmology, in which fire forms the
basic material principle of an orderly universe. Little is known
about his life, and the one book he apparently wrote is lost.

• Empedocles (c. 490-430 BCE)

• was a Greek pre-Socratic philosopher and a native citizen of
Akragas, a Greek city in Sicily. Empedocles' philosophy is
best known for originating the cosmogonic theory of the four
classical elements
• Later proposed that all matter is made up of four
fundamental elements – namely: earth, air, fire, and water.
• Around 440 BCE, a new theory emerged when Greek philosophers Leucippus
(flourished 5th century BCE) and his student Democritus (c.460-370) BCE) wondered
what would happen to a piece of gold if it is cut indefinitely.

❑ The Five(5) Main Principles of Leucippus and Democritus:

▪ All matter is made up of atoms that are too tiny to be seen by the naked eyes.
▪ Atoms are in constant motion around an empty space called void.
▪ Atoms are completely solid.
▪ Atoms are uniform, with no internal structure.
▪ Atoms come in different shapes and sizes.
• Leucippus
• A pre-Socratic Greek philosopher who has been
credited as the first philosopher to develop a
theory of atomism and a teacher of Democritus.

• Democritus
• An Ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher
primarily remembered today for his formulation of
an atomic theory of the universe.
• His exact contributions are difficult to disentangle
from those of his mentor Leucippus, as they are
often mentioned together in texts.

❑ They held that the universe was composed of very

small, indivisible, and indestructible atoms.
• These Greek philosophers called this unit “atomos”
meaning uncuttable.
• EPICURUS OF SAMOS (341 – 270 BCE)

• popularized atomism, the philosophy that

matter is made up of atoms.

• Enhanced the theory that different types of

atoms have different weights and that have
the same speed regardless of size
• ARISTOTLE – agreed with Empedocles that
all matter was made up of four fundamental
elements in varying proportions.
• He suggested that one element could be
transformed to another – a pioneering idea to
Alchemy.
• He also added fifth fundamental element
aether, which supposedly made up of matter
found outside of Earth and moon.

• Continuous Theory – which asserted that

matter can be divided indefinitely without
changing the fundamental characteristics of a
material – a direct contrast to the discrete
theory of the atomists.
 MATTER
• It is a fundamental knowledge in
Chemistry
that matter is anything that has mass
and volume.

• Matter has mass and occupies space.

• It is composed of tiny particles called
atoms.
 What is Matter?
• Is made of particles that give its mass and volume.

• Made up of particles – atoms, molecules or ions

• Matter is everywhere. It has mass and volume. The things you use in your classes
such as pen, paper, uniform, ID, watch, board, and cellphone are forms of matter. The
cells that make up your body and your DNA, the rocks and Earth’s core, and the drugs
and silicon chips used by humans are all made up of matter. Thus, chemistry is
considered as central to science and other fields.
▪ MASS – is the amount of matter
▪ VOLUME – is the space it occupies

All things, living or nonliving, are made up of matter, which can

be characterized using different senses.
 ATOM

• Is the smallest and the

basic unit of matter that
forms a chemical element.
• The building blocks of
matter.
• The term “atom” comes
from the Greek word for
indivisible.
 STATES OF MATTER

❖ Matter exists in three states:

• Solid: a rigid substance with a definite shape
• Liquid: has a definite volume but takes the shape of its container
• Gas: takes the shape and volume of its container
❖ STRUCTURE OF A SOLID:

▪ Solids have definite shape and volume.

▪ The particles are tightly packed together; thus are almost incompressible
▪ Particles vibrate in a fixed position; they cannot move around or slide past each
other
▪ High densities and can expand only slightly when heated
❖ STRUCTURE OF A LIQUID:

▪ Has no definite shape but has definite volume

▪ Particles are close with one another, but not as close as those in solid
▪ Particles are not arranged in a rigid or orderly manner; they can slide past
each other
▪ Liquids are almost incompressible, but they tend to expand slightly when
heated
▪ Have medium densities
❖ STRUCTURE OF A GAS

▪ Gases takes the shape of their container, however they have

no definite volume
▪ Gas can expand to fill any volume; thus it takes the shape and volume of its
container
▪ Particles are much farther apart than those in liquid
▪ Easily compressed into smaller volume but greatly expand when heated
• Phase transition
• Occurs when there is
a change in
temperature and
pressure.
❖ PLASMA
• is the fourth state of matter. Formed by heating and ionizing a gas, plasmas are
made up of groups of negatively and positively charged particles.
• they have neither a definite volume nor a definite shape

Examples: aurora borealis & aurora australis, lightning, and comet tails
❖ BOSE-EINSTEIN CONDENSATE
• This state was first predicted, generally, in 1924-1925 by
Albert Einstein following and crediting a pioneering paper by
Satyendra Nath Bose (1894-1974) on the new field now
known as quantum statistics.
• is the fifth state of matter produced when a cloud of
bosons is cooled to temperatures very close to absolute
zero such that a large fraction of the bosons condense.
• Example: cold liquid helium, nucleons inside a neutron
star
-END OF DISCUSSION-