Unit 2/7

Properties of matter
 MATTER
• Definition: Anything that occupies space (i.e
has volume) and has mass (weight).
• There are three common states or types of
matter namely:
1. SOLID
2. LIQUID
3. GAS

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 SOLIDS
Characteristics:
• Particles are regularly or closely packed
• The movement is restricted
• Have a fixed shape and definite volume
• When they are heated they vibrate within their fixed points
• Their particles do not flow

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 LIQUIDS
Characteristics:
• Particles are not closely packed but are still in
contact with each other
• They have no definite shape (i.e. they take the shape
of the container) and volume.
• The particles are flowing or mobile.
• When they are heated, they expand e.g. Hg

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 GASES
Characteristics:
• The particles are further away from each
other and are independent.
• They have a definite volume but no shape.
• Their particles flow.
• They expand when heated.

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States of matter chart

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Changes of states of matter

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 Plasmas
• Plasma consists of highly charged particles
with extremely high kinetic energy.
• The noble gases (helium, neon, argon,
krypton, xenon and radon) are often used
to make glowing signs by using electricity
to ionize them to the plasma state.
• Stars are essentially superheated balls of
plasma.

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 Bose-Einstein Condensate
• At this extremely low temperature, molecular
motion comes very close to stopping
altogether.
• Since there is almost no kinetic energy being
transferred from one atom to another, the
atoms begin to clump together.
• There are no longer thousands of separate
atoms, just one “super atom.”

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• A BEC also has many of the properties of a
superfluid — flowing without friction.

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 Properties of molecules
• Molecules at ordinary temperatures have large
amount of kinetic energy
• In a liquid or solid state there are large attractive
forces between molecules
• The large kinetic energy of molecules is related
directly to phenomena such as diffusion, osmosis
and dialysis.
• The attractive force between molecules account
for such phenomena as cohesion and adhesion,
adhesion and adsorption, viscosity, surface
tension, capillary action (capillarity) and others
 Elasticity
• The tendency of a body to return to its
original shape after it has been stretched or
compressed.
• Physiological importance: warming up prior to
a sport increases the flexibility of the muscles
and blood vessels and decrease the risk of
strain, sprain and pulls.

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 Cohesion
• the intermolecular attraction between like-
molecules.
• Examples: Mercury does not wet the
container, unlike water and many other
liquids.

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 Adhesion
• The attraction between unlike molecules.
• Examples: mercury in liquid-in-glass
thermometers, it exhibits a strongly convex
meniscus.

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 Capillary action
• Sometimes capillarity, capillary motion, or
wicking) is the ability of a liquid to flow in narrow
spaces without the assistance of, or even in
opposition to, external forces like gravity.
• The spontaneous rise of a liquid up a narrow
glass tube.
• Examples: water sticks to glass, cloth, organic
tissues, soil, and, luckily, to the fibers in a paper
towel.
• Essential for the drainage of constantly produced
tear fluid from the eye.
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 Capillary action/rise
 adhesive attraction between the liquid and the solid phase
is appreciable, the solid is said to be wettable.
 In a capillary made of a wettable material, water will rise in
the capillary until the force of gravity counters the
movement.
 When the adhesion is weaker than the water-water
interaction then the upper level of the liquid in the
capillary is lower than the surface of the free solution.
 In xylem vessels adhesion is very strong and capillary action
can contribute to the upper movement of water in plants.
(0.75 m,r20 um.)
 Capillary rise -the effect is used in drawing blood sample
using a needle
• Synthetic fabrics use capillary action to "wick"
sweat away from the skin.
• Candle and lamp wicks.
• thin layer chromatography.
• Used when wiping spilled water using paper
towel/cloth

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 Capillary action...
In a narrow channel the liquid to gas interface takes a curved
shape (meniscus), that can be convex if the liquid does not wet
the capillary walls and concave if it does. A convex meniscus
creates positive pressure above its surface, while a concave
meniscus creates negative pressure (vacuum).

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The basis of capillary action

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 Physiological effects of capillarity
• Capillary action/force aid the heart in moving
blood through the capillary system or through
network of muscles(capillaries)
 Viscosity

Viscosity describes a fluid's internal

resistance to flow and may be thought of
as a measure of fluid’s friction
Some liquids will flow readily (e.g. water
with viscosity of 1.00) and others do not.
Blood has a viscosity more than water to
accommodate exchange of materials
 Viscosity ...
• Examples: Honey and syrups can be made
to flow more readily when heated, .i.e
increase in temperature reduces the
viscosity of a liquid
• Engine oil and hydraulic fluids thicken
appreciably on cold days and significantly
affect the performance of cars and other
machinery during the winter months.

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 Physiological effects of viscosity
• What is the advantage of blood having a
viscosity greater than that of water?
• It is for blood to:
- allow for exchange of materials i.e gaseous
exchange
 Surface Tension

Surface tension is a Scientifically - defined

property of the as the force per unit
surface of a liquid length pulling
that allows it to resist perpendicularly to a
an external force line in the plane of
the surface
 Surface tension...

• It is related to the Cohesion -

cohesive and intermolecular
adhesive forces attraction between
like molecules in the
liquid state.
Adhesion - attraction
between water and
other molecules (e.g.,
cell walls)
 Surface tension
• The intermolecular attractive forces at the
surface of the liquids.
• The cohesive forces between liquid molecules
are responsible for the phenomenon known as
surface tension.
• The molecules at the surface do not have
other like molecules on all sides of them and
consequently they cohere more strongly to
those directly associated with them on the
surface.

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Investigating surface tension effects

Why do liquids form drops

Brainstorm,
discuss Why does water wet some surfaces
with your but run off others
neighbour
and How can an insect rest or move on
present the surface of water without sinking
your
findings and wetting itself
for Why does water rise up a capillary
discussion
session. tube but mercury is pushed down to
6minutes a lower level
 Water
Water has extremely high surface tension.
Therefore can support fairly large objects placed
carefully on its surface. (due to the water-water
attraction (cohesion) of its molecules relative to
the water-air molecule interactions (adhesion).
Surface tension can be greatly affected by certain
solutes (fatty acids and lipids). These "surfactant"
molecules usually have both polar and nonpolar
regions.(concentrated at interfaces)
 Water...
• Water is often used for cleaning, but the
surface tension makes it hard for water to
penetrate into small crevices or openings,
such as are found in clothes. Soap is added to
water to reduce the surface tension, so
clothes (or whatever else) get much cleaner.
 Surface tension applications
• Clinical test for jaundice - Normal urine has a
surface tension of about 66 dynes/cm but if
bile is present (a test for jaundice), it drops to
about 55.
• In the Hay test, powdered sulfur is sprinkled
on the urine surface. It will float on normal
urine, but sink if the S.T. is lowered by the
bile.

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 Surface tension applications...
• Surface tension disinfectants - solutions of
low surface tension.
• This allow them to spread out on the cell walls
of bacteria and disrupt them.
• Soaps and detergents – helps in the cleaning
of clothes by lowering the surface tension of
the water so that it more readily soaks into
pores and soiled areas.

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 Importance of Surfactants

• Bile salts, help in the digestion of fats.

• medication (treatment of infection on throat
tissues) contains a surfactant which reduces
the surface tension of water so that medicine
can spread quickly over the tissues.
• Without a surfactant, the liquid will collect in
the form of droplets
 Importance of Surfactants...

• Lack of surfactant in the lungs of a premature

infant causes respiratory distress syndrome,
because surface tension rises in the alveoli
(air sacs), causing portions of the lungs to
collapse.