Which of the Following Can Be Classified as Matter?

Learning Objectives

By the end of this section, y'all will be able to:

• Draw the basic properties of each physical country of matter: solid, liquid, and gas
• Distinguish between mass and weight
• Apply the law of conservation of matter
• Classify affair as an chemical element, compound, homogeneous mixture, or heterogeneous mixture with regard to its physical land and limerick
• Define and give examples of atoms and molecules

Matter is defined every bit anything that occupies space and has mass, and it is all around u.s.. Solids and liquids are more than apparently thing: We tin run into that they take upwardly space, and their weight tells united states that they have mass. Gases are also thing; if gases did not take upwards space, a airship would not inflate (increase its book) when filled with gas.

Solids, liquids, and gases are the three states of matter normally found on earth (Figure 1.6). A solid is rigid and possesses a definite shape. A liquid flows and takes the shape of its container, except that it forms a flat or slightly curved upper surface when acted upon by gravity. (In zero gravity, liquids assume a spherical shape.) Both liquid and solid samples accept volumes that are very nearly independent of force per unit area. A gas takes both the shape and volume of its container.

Figure i.half-dozen The 3 most common states or phases of affair are solid, liquid, and gas.

A fourth state of matter, plasma, occurs naturally in the interiors of stars. A plasma is a gaseous land of matter that contains observable numbers of electrically charged particles (Figure 1.7). The presence of these charged particles imparts unique properties to plasmas that justify their nomenclature as a state of matter distinct from gases. In improver to stars, plasmas are found in another high-temperature environments (both natural and human-fabricated), such as lightning strikes, sure telly screens, and specialized analytical instruments used to detect trace amounts of metals.

Effigy 1.7 A plasma torch tin can exist used to cut metal. (credit: "Hypertherm"/Wikimedia Eatables)

Link to Learning

In a tiny jail cell in a plasma goggle box, the plasma emits ultraviolet light, which in turn causes the display at that location to appear a specific color. The composite of these tiny dots of color makes up the image that y'all come across. Watch this video to learn more virtually plasma and the places y'all encounter information technology.

Some samples of thing announced to have properties of solids, liquids, and/or gases at the aforementioned fourth dimension. This can occur when the sample is equanimous of many minor pieces. For example, we tin pour sand as if it were a liquid because information technology is composed of many pocket-size grains of solid sand. Affair tin also take properties of more than than 1 country when it is a mixture, such as with clouds. Clouds appear to behave somewhat like gases, but they are actually mixtures of air (gas) and tiny particles of water (liquid or solid).

The mass of an object is a mensurate of the corporeality of matter in it. One way to measure an object'south mass is to measure the force it takes to accelerate the object. It takes much more force to accelerate a auto than a bicycle considering the car has much more mass. A more common way to determine the mass of an object is to employ a residuum to compare its mass with a standard mass.

Although weight is related to mass, information technology is not the same affair. Weight refers to the force that gravity exerts on an object. This strength is directly proportional to the mass of the object. The weight of an object changes as the force of gravity changes, but its mass does non. An astronaut'southward mass does non change only because she goes to the moon. But her weight on the moon is just one-6th her globe-bound weight because the moon's gravity is only ane-6th that of the globe's. She may feel "weightless" during her trip when she experiences negligible external forces (gravitational or any other), although she is, of course, never "massless."

The constabulary of conservation of matter summarizes many scientific observations about matter: Information technology states that there is no detectable change in the total quantity of matter present when matter converts from one type to another (a chemic change) or changes amid solid, liquid, or gaseous states (a physical change). Brewing beer and the operation of batteries provide examples of the conservation of affair (Figure 1.8). During the brewing of beer, the ingredients (water, yeast, grains, malt, hops, and sugar) are converted into beer (h2o, alcohol, carbonation, and flavoring substances) with no bodily loss of substance. This is almost clearly seen during the bottling process, when glucose turns into ethanol and carbon dioxide, and the total mass of the substances does not alter. This can also be seen in a lead-acid car bombardment: The original substances (lead, lead oxide, and sulfuric acid), which are capable of producing electricity, are changed into other substances (atomic number 82 sulfate and water) that practice non produce electricity, with no alter in the actual amount of matter.

Figure 1.8 (a) The mass of beer precursor materials is the aforementioned as the mass of beer produced: Carbohydrate has go alcohol and carbon dioxide. (b) The mass of the lead, atomic number 82 oxide, and sulfuric acid consumed by the production of electricity is exactly equal to the mass of lead sulfate and water that is formed.

Although this conservation police holds true for all conversions of matter, disarming examples are few and far between because, outside of the controlled conditions in a laboratory, we seldom collect all of the material that is produced during a detail conversion. For example, when yous swallow, digest, and assimilate nutrient, all of the thing in the original food is preserved. But considering some of the matter is incorporated into your body, and much is excreted every bit various types of waste, information technology is challenging to verify by measurement.

Classifying Matter

Matter tin be classified into several categories. Ii wide categories are mixtures and pure substances. A pure substance has a constant composition. All specimens of a pure substance have exactly the aforementioned makeup and properties. Any sample of sucrose (tabular array sugar) consists of 42.1% carbon, vi.5% hydrogen, and 51.four% oxygen by mass. Any sample of sucrose besides has the same physical backdrop, such every bit melting point, colour, and sweet, regardless of the source from which it is isolated.

Pure substances may be divided into two classes: elements and compounds. Pure substances that cannot be broken down into simpler substances by chemical changes are called elements. Atomic number 26, silver, gold, aluminum, sulfur, oxygen, and copper are familiar examples of the more than 100 known elements, of which about 90 occur naturally on the earth, and two dozen or then accept been created in laboratories.

Pure substances that tin can be cleaved down by chemical changes are chosen compounds. This breakdown may produce either elements or other compounds, or both. Mercury(II) oxide, an orange, crystalline solid, can be broken down by estrus into the elements mercury and oxygen (Figure i.9). When heated in the absence of air, the compound sucrose is cleaved down into the element carbon and the chemical compound water. (The initial stage of this process, when the sugar is turning chocolate-brown, is known every bit caramelization—this is what imparts the feature sweet and nutty flavour to caramel apples, caramelized onions, and caramel). Silver(I) chloride is a white solid that can be broken down into its elements, silver and chlorine, past absorption of light. This property is the basis for the utilize of this compound in photographic films and photochromic eyeglasses (those with lenses that darken when exposed to light).

Figure 1.9 (a) The compound mercury(II) oxide, (b) when heated, (c) decomposes into silver droplets of liquid mercury and invisible oxygen gas. (credit: modification of work by Paul Flowers)

The properties of combined elements are different from those in the free, or uncombined, state. For case, white crystalline sugar (sucrose) is a compound resulting from the chemic combination of the chemical element carbon, which is a black solid in one of its uncombined forms, and the two elements hydrogen and oxygen, which are colorless gases when uncombined. Free sodium, an element that is a soft, shiny, metallic solid, and free chlorine, an element that is a yellow-green gas, combine to form sodium chloride (tabular array salt), a chemical compound that is a white, crystalline solid.

A mixture is composed of two or more types of matter that tin can exist present in varying amounts and tin be separated by physical changes, such equally evaporation (you volition acquire more than about this later). A mixture with a composition that varies from point to point is called a heterogeneous mixture. Italian dressing is an example of a heterogeneous mixture (Effigy ane.x). Its limerick tin vary considering it may be prepared from varying amounts of oil, vinegar, and herbs. It is not the same from point to indicate throughout the mixture—one drop may be generally vinegar, whereas a different drop may be mostly oil or herbs because the oil and vinegar separate and the herbs settle. Other examples of heterogeneous mixtures are chocolate chip cookies (we tin come across the separate $.25 of chocolate, nuts, and cookie dough) and granite (we can run into the quartz, mica, feldspar, and more).

A homogeneous mixture, also called a solution, exhibits a uniform limerick and appears visually the same throughout. An case of a solution is a sports drink, consisting of water, saccharide, coloring, flavoring, and electrolytes mixed together uniformly (Figure ane.x). Each drib of a sports drink tastes the aforementioned because each drib contains the same amounts of water, sugar, and other components. Note that the composition of a sports potable can vary—it could be fabricated with somewhat more or less sugar, flavoring, or other components, and still be a sports drink. Other examples of homogeneous mixtures include air, maple syrup, gasoline, and a solution of salt in h2o.

Figure 1.10 (a) Oil and vinegar salad dressing is a heterogeneous mixture because its composition is not uniform throughout. (b) A commercial sports drink is a homogeneous mixture because its composition is uniform throughout. (credit a "left": modification of piece of work by John Mayer; credit a "right": modification of work by Umberto Salvagnin; credit b "left: modification of work by Jeff Bedford)

Although there are just over 100 elements, tens of millions of chemic compounds result from unlike combinations of these elements. Each chemical compound has a specific composition and possesses definite chemical and physical properties that distinguish it from all other compounds. And, of course, in that location are innumerable ways to combine elements and compounds to form dissimilar mixtures. A summary of how to distinguish betwixt the various major classifications of matter is shown in (Figure 1.11).

Figure 1.11 Depending on its backdrop, a given substance can exist classified as a homogeneous mixture, a heterogeneous mixture, a compound, or an element.

Xi elements brand up well-nigh 99% of the globe's crust and temper (Tabular array 1.i). Oxygen constitutes near one-half and silicon about one-quarter of the total quantity of these elements. A majority of elements on earth are constitute in chemic combinations with other elements; about ane-quarter of the elements are also found in the complimentary state.

Elemental Composition of Earth

Element	Symbol	Percent Mass	Element	Symbol	Percent Mass
oxygen	O	49.20	chlorine	Cl	0.19
silicon	Si	25.67	phosphorus	P	0.11
aluminum	Al	seven.50	manganese	Mn	0.09
iron	Atomic number 26	4.71	carbon	C	0.08
calcium	Ca	3.39	sulfur	S	0.06
sodium	Na	ii.63	barium	Ba	0.04
potassium	K	two.forty	nitrogen	North	0.03
magnesium	Mg	1.93	fluorine	F	0.03
hydrogen	H	0.87	strontium	Sr	0.02
titanium	Ti	0.58	all others	-	0.47

Table i.i

Atoms and Molecules

An cantlet is the smallest particle of an chemical element that has the properties of that element and tin enter into a chemical combination. Consider the element gold, for example. Imagine cutting a golden nugget in one-half, then cutting 1 of the halves in half, and repeating this process until a piece of golden remained that was so small that it could non be cutting in one-half (regardless of how tiny your knife may be). This minimally sized piece of gold is an atom (from the Greek atomos, meaning "indivisible") (Effigy 1.12). This atom would no longer be gold if it were divided whatever further.

Figure i.12 (a) This photo shows a gold nugget. (b) A scanning-tunneling microscope (STM) tin can generate views of the surfaces of solids, such as this image of a gold crystal. Each sphere represents one gold atom. (credit a: modification of work by United States Geological Survey; credit b: modification of work by "Erwinrossen"/Wikimedia Eatables)

The starting time proffer that matter is composed of atoms is attributed to the Greek philosophers Leucippus and Democritus, who developed their ideas in the 5th century BCE. However, it was not until the early nineteenth century that John Dalton (1766–1844), a British schoolteacher with a keen interest in science, supported this hypothesis with quantitative measurements. Since that time, repeated experiments have confirmed many aspects of this hypothesis, and it has become one of the cardinal theories of chemistry. Other aspects of Dalton's diminutive theory are withal used but with modest revisions (details of Dalton'southward theory are provided in the chapter on atoms and molecules).

An cantlet is so small that its size is hard to imagine. One of the smallest things we can see with our unaided heart is a unmarried thread of a spider web: These strands are about 1/10,000 of a centimeter (0.0001 cm) in diameter. Although the cross-section of one strand is virtually impossible to see without a microscope, information technology is huge on an diminutive scale. A unmarried carbon atom in the web has a bore of about 0.000000015 centimeter, and it would take about 7000 carbon atoms to bridge the bore of the strand. To put this in perspective, if a carbon cantlet were the size of a dime, the cross-department of one strand would exist larger than a football field, which would crave nearly 150 million carbon cantlet "dimes" to cover information technology. (Figure 1.thirteen) shows increasingly close microscopic and diminutive-level views of ordinary cotton.

Figure ane.xiii These images provide an increasingly closer view: (a) a cotton wool boll, (b) a single cotton fiber fiber viewed under an optical microscope (magnified xl times), (c) an image of a cotton wool fiber obtained with an electron microscope (much higher magnification than with the optical microscope); and (d and e) atomic-level models of the cobweb (spheres of different colors correspond atoms of different elements). (credit c: modification of work by "Featheredtar"/Wikimedia Commons)

An atom is and then light that its mass is too difficult to imagine. A billion pb atoms (ane,000,000,000 atoms) weigh virtually 3 $\times$ 10^−thirteen grams, a mass that is far likewise light to be weighed on even the world's most sensitive balances. It would require over 300,000,000,000,000 lead atoms (300 trillion, or 3 $\times$ 10^xiv) to be weighed, and they would counterbalance only 0.0000001 gram.

It is rare to detect collections of individual atoms. Only a few elements, such every bit the gases helium, neon, and argon, consist of a drove of individual atoms that move about independently of one another. Other elements, such as the gases hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and chlorine, are equanimous of units that consist of pairs of atoms (Figure 1.fourteen). One form of the element phosphorus consists of units composed of iv phosphorus atoms. The element sulfur exists in diverse forms, one of which consists of units equanimous of 8 sulfur atoms. These units are called molecules. A molecule consists of two or more atoms joined by strong forces called chemical bonds. The atoms in a molecule move around as a unit, much like the cans of soda in a six-pack or a bunch of keys joined together on a single key band. A molecule may consist of 2 or more than identical atoms, every bit in the molecules establish in the elements hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur, or information technology may consist of two or more dissimilar atoms, as in the molecules establish in water. Each h2o molecule is a unit that contains ii hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. Each glucose molecule is a unit that contains 6 carbon atoms, 12 hydrogen atoms, and six oxygen atoms. Like atoms, molecules are incredibly small and light. If an ordinary drinking glass of water were enlarged to the size of the earth, the h2o molecules inside information technology would be about the size of golf assurance.

Figure 1.fourteen The elements hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur form molecules consisting of ii or more atoms of the aforementioned chemical element. The compounds water, carbon dioxide, and glucose consist of combinations of atoms of different elements.

Chemistry in Everyday Life

Decomposition of Water / Production of Hydrogen

Water consists of the elements hydrogen and oxygen combined in a 2 to ane ratio. Water can be broken down into hydrogen and oxygen gases by the add-on of energy. One way to do this is with a battery or ability supply, every bit shown in (Effigy 1.15).

Effigy 1.15 The decomposition of water is shown at the macroscopic, microscopic, and symbolic levels. The bombardment provides an electric current (microscopic) that decomposes h2o. At the macroscopic level, the liquid separates into the gases hydrogen (on the left) and oxygen (on the right). Symbolically, this change is presented by showing how liquid H₂O separates into H_ii and O_ii gases.

The breakdown of water involves a rearrangement of the atoms in water molecules into unlike molecules, each equanimous of ii hydrogen atoms and two oxygen atoms, respectively. Two water molecules form one oxygen molecule and two hydrogen molecules. The representation for what occurs, $2{\text{H}}_2\text{O}(l)⟶2{\text{H}}_2(g)+{\text{O}}_2(\mathrm{one\; thousand})\text{,}$ will exist explored in more depth in later chapters.

The ii gases produced have distinctly different backdrop. Oxygen is non flammable but is required for combustion of a fuel, and hydrogen is highly flammable and a stiff energy source. How might this knowledge exist practical in our world? I awarding involves inquiry into more fuel-efficient transportation. Fuel-prison cell vehicles (FCV) run on hydrogen instead of gasoline (Figure 1.16). They are more efficient than vehicles with internal combustion engines, are nonpolluting, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, making us less dependent on fossil fuels. FCVs are not yet economically feasible, notwithstanding, and current hydrogen production depends on natural gas. If nosotros tin develop a procedure to economically decompose water, or produce hydrogen in another environmentally audio way, FCVs may be the mode of the future.

Figure 1.xvi A fuel cell generates electrical energy from hydrogen and oxygen via an electrochemical process and produces only water as the waste matter product.

Chemistry in Everyday Life

Chemical science of Jail cell Phones

Imagine how dissimilar your life would be without cell phones (Effigy 1.17) and other smart devices. Cell phones are fabricated from numerous chemical substances, which are extracted, refined, purified, and assembled using an all-encompassing and in-depth understanding of chemical principles. Nigh 30% of the elements that are found in nature are found inside a typical smart phone. The case/torso/frame consists of a combination of sturdy, durable polymers composed primarily of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen [acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and polycarbonate thermoplastics], and light, stiff, structural metals, such equally aluminum, magnesium, and iron. The display screen is made from a specially toughened glass (silica glass strengthened past the addition of aluminum, sodium, and potassium) and coated with a material to make it conductive (such as indium tin oxide). The circuit lath uses a semiconductor textile (usually silicon); commonly used metals like copper, tin can, silver, and gold; and more unfamiliar elements such as yttrium, praseodymium, and gadolinium. The bombardment relies upon lithium ions and a variety of other materials, including atomic number 26, cobalt, copper, polyethylene oxide, and polyacrylonitrile.

Figure 1.17 Nigh one-tertiary of naturally occurring elements are used to make a cell phone. (credit: modification of work by John Taylor)

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Source: https://openstax.org/books/chemistry-2e/pages/1-2-phases-and-classification-of-matter

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