NATURE AND

STATES OF
MATTER
• PARTICULATE NATURE OF MATTER
• STATES OF MATTER
LESSON OBJECTIVE

Recognize that
substances are made up of
smaller particles
PARTICULATE NATURE OF
MATTER
The earliest belief of Greek philosophers
was that matter was made up of a single
element.
GREEK PHILOSOPHERS
 Anaximenes (545 BCE)
-Asserted that the primal element that
makes up a matter was air.
 Thales of Miletus (6th Century BCE)
-Thought it was air.
 Heraclitus (540-480 BCE)
-Believed it was fire.
 Empedocles (490-430 BCE)
-Later proposed that all matter is made up of four
fundamental elements namely;
Earth, Air, Fire and Water
The varying proportions of these
element in different materials
supposedly rendered the different
characteristics and behavior of the
materials. For instance, a stone
was thought to contain mostly of
earth, while a rabbit was believed
to contain large proportion of water
and fire which makes it soft and
gives it life.
The problem with this idea, however, stemmed from
the fact that when materials are broken down, they
never resemble the fundamental elements Empedocles
proposed. Because of this, an important concept was
introduced now known as the
Law of Constant Proportions which states that…
all things of the same type have the same
proportions of the elements that compose them.
 Leucippus (440 BCE) and his student Democritus
(460-370 BCE)
-Wondered what would happen to a piece of gold
if it is cut unevenly. The two philosophers concluded
that there must be a smallest unit of gold that cannot
be broken down without it ceasing to be gold. They
called this unit Atomos, meaning ‘uncuttable’.
The main theory of Leucippus and Democritus’
theory include the following:
 All matter is made up of atoms that are too tiny to be seen
by the naked eyes. They cannot b broken down further into
smaller portions. All forms of matter result from the
coming together or breaking apart of atoms.
 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.
 Epicurus of Samos (341-270 BCE)
-popularized atomism, the
philosophy that matter is made up of
atoms. He further enhanced the
theory by proposing different types
of atoms have different weights, and
that all atoms have the same speed
regardless of size.
Unfortunately, this philosophy was
highly opposed by the more
historically famous philosophers
including Plato and Aristotle.
 Aristotle agreed with Empedocles that all
matter was made up of four fundamental
elements in varying proportions.
 He also suggested that all elements could be
transformed to another-a pioneering idea to
the field of alchemy.
 Aristotle also added the fifth element Aether,
which supposedly made up matter found
outside of earth and the moon.
 Aristotle’s theory was recognized as a
Continuous Theory, which asserted that
matter can be divided indefinitely without
changing the fundamental characteristics of
the material-a direct contrast to the Discrete
Theory of the atomists.
STATES OF MATTER
Matter is anything that has mass
and volume.
Mass is the amount of matter, while
volume is the space it occupies.
STATES OF MATTER
3 Main states of matter
1. Solid
2. Liquid
3. Gas

4. Plasma
5. Bose-Einstein Condensate
STATES OF MATTER (SOLID)
Have definite shape and volume. The particles
in a solid are tightly packed together, thus,
solids are almost incompressible. The
particles vibrate in a fixed position; they
cannot move around or slide past each other.
Solids have high densities and can expand
only slightly when heated.
 STATES OF MATTER (LIQUID)
A liquid has no definite shape but has a definite volume.
The particles in a liquid are close with one another, but not
as close as those in a solid. The particles are not arranged
in a rigid or orderly manner; they can slide past each other,
allowing the liquid to flow freely and take shape in a
container in which it is placed. Liquids are almost
incompressible, but they tend to expand slightly when
heated. They generally have medium densities.
 STATES OF MATTER (GAS)
Gases take the shape of their container. However, they
have no definite volume. A gas can expand to fill any
volume, thus it takes both the shape and volume of its
container. The particles in a gas are usually much farther
apart than those in a liquid. Because of the large spaces
between the particles, gases are easily compressed into
smaller volume when pressure is increased, but they
greatly expand when heated. Gases also have low densities.
 STATES OF MATTER (PLASMA)
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.
Plasmas are not the same as gases; they have neither
a definite volume nor a definite shape. They are often
observed in ionized gases, aurora borealis, lightning,
and comet tails.
STATES OF MATTER (PLASMA)
Sir William Crookes is a British Chemist and
physicist who discovered the element thallium in
1861. he was on of the scientists to discover plasma,
and in 1879, identified it as the fourth state of matter.
Crookes also developed the Crookes tube and the
Spinthariscope-instruments used to study cathode
rays (streams of electrons) and nuclear reactivity,
respectively.
STATES OF MATTER (BOSE-
EINSTEIN CONDENSATE)
Produced when a cloud of bosons (type of
elementary particle of matter) is cooled to
temperatures very close to absolute zero (T=0K)
such that a large fraction of the bosons condense.
Bose-Einstein condensates include superfluids like
cold liquid helium, and superconductors like the
nucleons inside a neutron star.
Seatwork #1

1. Describe the arrangement and behavior of

particles of the following substances:
Air
Alcohol
bottle