Revision Notes on Matter in Our Surroundings
What is Matter?
Air, water, stones, sand, clouds, pencils, books – Everything is made up of matter. Matter is everything in this universe that occupies space and has mass.
Constituents of Matter
According to the early Indian philosophers, every living and non-living thing is made of five basic elements called the Panchtatava – Air, Water, Earth, Sky,and Fire. Therefore, matter is a composition of these five constituents.
Physical Nature of Matter
Is matter continuous or particulate?
Matter is particulate in nature. This means that matter consists of particles as you can see in the microscopic image of a cube above.
For Example, If we put a drop of red color in water the color of the water turns red. This happens because the particles of red color mix with the particles of water.
What is the size of these particles?
The size of the particles of matter is very small.
They can be broken into further particles as well. For Example, On dilution of a colorful solution, as shown in the figure below, we can still see the color. This means there are millions of particles present in the color which just divide themselves on dilution.
- Which of these is matter – happiness, air, sandwich, thoughts, juice, and eraser? Air, sandwich, juice, and eraser as they have mass, they occupy space and can be broken into further particles.
Characteristics of Particles of Matter
Particles of matter have three characteristics:
1. Particles of matter have spaces between them
2. Particles of matter are moving all the time
3. Particles of matter attract each other
Particles of Matter have spaces between them
Have you ever wondered what causes salt to get dissolved in water?
Salt gets dissolved in water because their particles have spaces between them. The particles of the salt get in between the spaces between the particles of water and a mixture is formed.
We cannot see these particles through naked eyes.
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