States of Matter

Everything in the world is made of matter. Walls are made of matter, milk is made of matter, and even air is made of matter. Matter comes in 3 different states.

*Liquids

*Solids

*Gas

*Things like juice, water, and milk are liquids.

*Walls, blocks, and clothes are solids.

*Air and steam are gases. http://www.chem4kids.com/files/matter_states.html

Liquids

*Liquids have no shape. If you pour a glass of water it will take the shape of the glass, but if the water spills it will spread out.

*Some liquids are thick (like a cold milkshake), and some are thin (like apple juice)

*Liquids can be very different from each other, but they all can be poured.

Solids

*Solids can be hard or soft.

*All solids will keep their shape unless you do something to change them.

*The shape of solids, like clay are easily changed.

*solids like wood are much harder and not easy to change the shape of.

Gases

*Gases have no shape either.

*Air is a gas, and like air most gases are invisible.

*You cannot see most gases, but you can feel them if you spin around fast. You can feel air move against you. When you feel wind against your face you are feeling a gas.

*Air is all around you.

*Gases spread out to fill any container they are in, even really big spaces. http://www.chem.purdue.edu/gchelp/atoms/states.html

Matter Can Change

*When matter changes its form, it is called changing its state.

*changes in temperature are usually what causes matter to change its state.

Water

*Water is an interesting type of matter.

*It changes easily from a liquid to gas and from a liquid to a solid.

*To turn water into a solid all you need to do is freeze it.

*If an ice cube is left out of the freezer it will melt, turning back into a liquid.

*If you have ever watched water boiling and saw steam rising up from the pot, you were watching water turn into a gas (water vapor).

*You can see water vapor turn back into a liquid when you fill a dry glass with water and ice and let the glass sit. After a while you will see droplets of water gathering on the outside of the glass.

Matter

*All matter is either a solid, a liquid, or a gas.

*Water is an unusual type of matter because it changes its state especially easily with changes in temperature.

*Most forms of matter stay in one state or another.

Your Job

*Get out a piece of paper and answer the following questions. You may go to the web sites that were in blue to help you get extra information.

*What are the three commonly known states of matter?

*Give two examples of each of these states of matter.

*In the websites they talk about a 4^th state of matter, what is it?

*What is the most common reason for matter changing its state?

*What is the type of matter that changes its form very easily?

*Draw a picture showing some type of matter changing its form.