Types of Matter

Chemistry deals with the properties and reactions of substances. 

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Mercury thermometers, both for laboratory and clinical use, have been replaced by digital ones. 

Matter is anything that has mass and occupies space. It exists in three phases solid, liquid, and gas. A solid has a fixed shape and volume. A liquid has a fixed volume but is not rigid in shape it takes on the shape of the container. A gas has neither a fixed volume nor a rigid shape it takes on both the volume and the shape of the container. 

An element is a type of matter that cannot be broken down into two or more pure substances. There are 115 known elements, of which 91 occur naturally. 

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Air bags, which act as safety devices in cars, contain solid sodinm azide. On impact, the sodium azide releases nitrogen gas, which expands the air bag. The main benefit of using a gas instead of another type of matter is that —... 

While on the topic on electrical conduction and resistance offered by an electrically conducting medium it is usual to extend to a phenomenon called superconductivity this has now been recognized as having a profound impact on the electrical field. Exciting possibilities exist. The phenomenon is exhibited by certain types of matter and is characterized by two fundamental properties ... 

In a vacuum (empty space), all forms of electromagnetic radiation propagate at a velocity of 300,000 km per second, when propagating through air, water, or any kind of matter, they interact with the matter and their velocity is reduced. Differences in the manner of interaction between different forms of radiation and different types of matter generally reveal information on the nature and the constituents of matter. 

Chemistry is the study of matter and energy and the interaction between them. In this chapter, we learn about the elements, which are the building blocks of all types of matter in the universe, the measurement of matter (and energy) as mass, the properties by which the types of matter can be identified, and a basic classification of matter. The symbols used to represent the elements are also presented, and an arrangement of the elements into classes having similar properties, called a periodic table, is introduced. The periodic table is invaluable to the chemist for many types of classification and understanding. 

For Aristotle (384-322 bc) there was only one type of matter this could, however, exist in four basic forms earth, air, fire and water, all of which could be converted one into the other. Observations of natural phenomena only came second in ancient Greece, though. Biological processes were considered to be very important, and attempts were made to explain the behaviour of, for example, water, air, rain,... 

According to the homogeneous model, the metal-containing materials (in particular iron and nickel) and the silicate-containing material of the primeval solar cloud condensed out at about the same time. The proto-Earth thus formed was composed of a mixture of these two types of matter, which differed greatly in their densities. At that time, the Earth s temperature was probably only a few hundred degrees, and... 

Atom The smallest unit of each of the more than 100 known elements and different basic types of matter that either exist in nature or are artificially made. All atoms that compose a specific element have the same nuclear charge and the same number of electrons and protons. Atoms of some elements may differ in mass when the number of neutrons in that atom s nucleus is different (such atoms are called isotopes). This is discussed in the next chapter. 

As man learns to function in these higher types of matter, he finds that the limitations of the lower life are transcended, and fall away one by one. He finds himself in a world of many dimensions, instead of one of three only and that fact alone opens up a whole series of entirely new possibilities in various directions. The study of these additional dimensions is one of the most fascinating that can be imagined. Short of really gaining the sight of the other planes, there is no method by which so clear a conception of astral life can be obtained as by the realization of the fourth dimension. ... 

At the end of the twentieth century, in the area of physics, and later in the area of chemistry extraordinarily important experimental results were produced, which gave rise to a new concept of nano-world. Development of high resolution electron microscopes allows detection of not only nano-dimensional particles but also large molecules. New types of matter such as spheroidal molecules with a hollow core (fullerenes and nanotubes), nanosized phases formed by a few atoms of metals... 

The temperatures and pressures at which different types of matter switch between states depend on the unique properties of the atoms or molecules within that matter. Typically, particles that cire very attracted to one another and have easily stackable shapes tend toward condensed states at room temperature. Particles with no mutual attraction (or that have mutual repulsion) and with not so easily stackable shapes tend toward the gaseous state. Think of a football game between fiercely rival schools. When fans of either school sit in their own section of the stands, the crowd is orderly, sitting nicely in rows. Put rival fans in the same section of the stands, however, and they ll repel each other with great energy. 

Any given type of matter has a unique combination of pressure and temperature at the intersection of all three states. This pressure-temperature combination is called the triple point At the triple point, all three phases coexist. In the case of good old H2O, going to the triple point would produce boiling ice water. Take a moment to bask in the weirdness. 

Plasma Plasma is a gas-like state in which electrons pop off gaseous atoms to produce a mixture of free electrons and cations (atoms or molecules with positive charge). For most types of matter, achieving the plasma state requires very high temperatures, very low pressures, or both. Matter at the surface of the sun, for example, exists as plasma. 

CONCENTRATION (Chemical). The quanlily of matter or of a particular type of matter that exists in a unit volume, as the strength of a solution in mass of solute per unit mass of solution or in the number of moles, hydrogen ions, etc., contained per unit volume or per unit mass. 

The great advantage of this model is that it gives essentially the same explanation for a large number of seemingly completely diverse physical and chemical phenomena, often with quantitative success. This permits a deeper insight into the statistical theimodynamic behavior of different types of matter. 

All adsorption processes result from the attraction between like and unlike molecules. For the ethanol-water example given above, the attraction between water molecules is greater than between molecules of water and ethanol As a consequence, there is a tendency for the ethanol molecules to be expelled from the bulk of the solution and to concentrate at die surface. This tendency increases with the hydrocarhon chain-length of the alcohol. Gas molecules adsorb on a solid surface because of die attraction between unlike molecules. The attraction between like and unlike molecules arises from a variety of intermolecular forces. London dispersion forces exist in all types of matter and always act as an attractive force between adjacent atoms and molecules, no matter how dissimilar they are. Many oilier attractive forces depend upon die specific chemical nature of the neighboring molecules. These include dipole interactions, the hydrogen bond and the metallic bond. 

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