Matter Basics
Properties
States of Matter
Measurements & Tools
Building Blocks of Matter
100

What is matter?

Anything that has mass and takes up space

100

What is a property?

A characteristic used to describe matter

100

What are the 3 main states of matter?

Solid, liquid, and gas

100

What tool measures mass?

Balance/scale

100

What is the smallest unit of matter?

Atom

200

Give 2 examples of things that are not matter.

Light, sound, heat, etc.

200

Name 2 physical properties of matter.

Color, shape, size, texture, hardness, etc.

200

Which state of matter has a definite shape and volume?

Solid

200

What units are used to measure mass?

Grams/Kilograms

200

A pure substance made of only one kind of atom

An element

300

What is mass?

The amount of matter in an object

300

What property does a balance measure?

Mass

300

Which state of matter takes the shape of its container but has a definite volume?

Liquid

300

What tool do we use to measure the volume of a liquid?

Graduated cylinder/Measuring cup

300

Two or more atoms joined together

A molecule

400

What is volume?

The amount of space an object takes up

400

What property does a graduated cylinder measure?

Volume of a liquid

400

Which state of matter has neither definite shape nor volume?

Gas

400

What units are used to measure liquid volume?

Milliliters/Liters

400

What is a compound? Give an example.

A substance made of two or more different elements chemically combined, e.g., water/H₂O

500

Maria puts 200 grams of ice cubes into a glass. She leaves the glass on the counter all day, and the ice melts into liquid water. The next morning, she comes back and finds the glass is empty!

Question:
If the glass is empty, where did all the matter go? Did the matter disappear?

The matter did not disappear—it changed state. The water evaporated into a gas and went into the air. Matter cannot be created or destroyed, only change forms.

500

Two objects are the same size, but one feels much heavier than the other. Which property explains this difference?

Mass

500

Jamal left a sealed bottle of soda in the freezer overnight. The next day, the bottle had burst open and pieces of ice were sticking out. Why did this happen?

When the liquid froze, it expanded and took up more space. Since the bottle was sealed, the pressure caused the bottle to burst.

500

What tool measures temperature? What units?

Thermometer; Celsius or Fahrenheit

500

Ethan says water (H₂O) and oxygen gas (O₂) are the same thing because they both have oxygen atoms. Is he correct? Why or why not?

No, he’s not correct. Water is a compound made of hydrogen and oxygen atoms joined together, while oxygen gas is a molecule made of only oxygen atoms. They are different substances even though they both have oxygen.