UNIT 2: MATTER AND ITS PROPERTIES

Contents

1. Introduction: Matter and Energy

2. Matter and its properties.
3. States of matter.
4. Kinetic theory.
5. Changes of state.
6. Processes with gases.

1. MATTER AND ENERGY

Walk into a room and turn on the light. You may see a table, some chairs, a lamp,
a computer humming away. But really all you see is matter and energy. There are many
kinds of matter and many kinds of energy, but when all is said and done, you´re left with
these two things: matter and energy. Scientist used to believe that these two things were
separate and distinct, but now they have realized that they are linked. In this unit we´ll
cover the first of this pair: the matter.

2. MATTER AND ITS PROPERTIES

All the stuff you see, your chair, the water you drink, the paper this book is printed
on, you yourself...all is matter. A portion of matter is a body.

Matter is anything that has mass and occupies space (has a volume)

Whenever scientists contemplate matter, they do so in one of two ways: with a

macroscopic viewpoint or with a microscopic one.
When scientists view matter in a macroscopic way, they are considering matter as the
stuff they can physically observe. The macroscopic world is the world you and I can
directly observe through our senses.
The microscopic level isn't just what you can observe through a microscope, it goes far
beyond that. It´s the level of individual particles, such as carbon atoms, sugar molecules,
and sodium and chloride ions. This is the level of theories and models.

The properties of matter can be classified in two ways:

a) Generals and specific properties: Mass, volume, temperature... are general

properties. They are unable to identify the type of substance you have. The density or the
fusion temperature are specific properties.

b) Intensive and extensive properties: The intensive properties don´t depend on the
amount of substance you have, for instance: temperature, density...The extensive
properties depend on the amount of substance (mass, volume…).

Now we are going to study some of these properties.

MASS: The mass of a body is the amount of matter the body has. Any mass over the
earth weigths, so you can measure the mass of a body using the analytical scale. Its base
unit in the S.I. is the kilogram. It is a general property because it does not tell you what
kind of matter you have and it´s an extensive one because it depends on the amount of
matter you have. Mass is different to the weight. The weight of a body is the force the
Earth attracts it and is measured in newtons (N)

VOLUME: The volume is the amount of space a body ocuppies. It is a general

property of matter like the mass and its S.I. unit is the cubic meter (m3). You can use the
litre (L) as well. Remember that 1dm3 = 1 L. One litre corresponds to the capacity of a
body of 1 dm of edge.
Regular body: using a mathematical
To measure the volume you have to distinguish formula

Irregular body: measuring the rising

of water…we´ll see.
Volumes of some regular bodies:

The volume of an irregular body is measured getting it into a test tube and measuring the
rising of water. The volume of the body is the difference between the final volume and the
original volume (V2-V1). This way of measuring volumes is based on the Arquimedes´
principle

.
Both mass and volume are extensive and general properties of matter.
DENSITY: It is an intensive and specific property of the matter. As you already know
D=m/V. The S.I. unit is kg/m3 but g/cm3, Kg/L,... are used as well. Any unit of mass
divided by any unit of volume or capacity is a density unit. If you know the density of a
substance and either its mass or volume, you can calculate the other.

Density is one of the most useful intensive properties of a substance, enabling chemists
to more easily identify substances. Volumes of liquids vary somewhat with temperature,
so chemists also specify the temperature at which a density measurement is made. Most
reference books report densities at 20 degrees celsius because it´s close to room
temperature and easy to measure without a lot of heating or cooling. The density of water
at 20 degrees is 1 g/cm3.
Measuring density: Calculating density is pretty straightforward. You measure the
mass of an object by using a balance or scale, determine the volume´s object and
then divide the mass by the volume.

EXERCISES:

1. Which of the following properties are useful to identify the different kinds of matter?
Density, volume, colour, fussion, temperature, mass.
 How do we call the properties of matter that are useful to differenciate the kind of
matter you have?
 What is the difference between matter and substance?
 What is the difference between matter and material system?

3. Someone tells you (to get in touch...): the oxigen´s density is 1,43 Kg/m3. What
does it mean?

4. A yogur has a mass of 125 g and its volume is 105 ml. Calculate its density.

5. A stone has a density of 3'6 g/ ml. Calculate the mass of 50 cm 3 of that stone.

6. The density of air at certain temperature is 1'2 g/l. Calculate the mass of air inside
a room of these dimensions: 5 m · 3´2 m · 2´5 m.

7. A mineral has a density of 6'8 g/ ml. Calculate the volume of a 200 g sample.

8. The density of alcohol is 0'8 g/cm3. What volume does 100 g of alcohol occupy?

9. You have a stone and its mass is 87 g. You introduce the stone in a calibrate
cylinder fill with water and observe that the displaced volume of water is 15,5 cm 3.
 Tell us which is the stone´s density and express it in the S.I. unit of mass.
 You break the stone in three getting as follows: If V is the complete stone´s
volume, the first piece has a volume of 1/2V, 1/3V is the volume for the second
piece, and the third one of 1/6V. Determine the mass and volume of each piece.
 Which is each piece´s density? Why?

10. What is the mass of one liter of oil if its density is 0,8 g/cm3?

11. You have 150 ml of sea water in a glass. Its density is 1,2 g/cm3. What is the mass
of water contained in the glass?
 12. Complete the table below:

Substance Density (Kg/m3) Mass (g) Volume (cm3)

Wood 860 86
Silver (Ag) 10500 150
Platinum (Pt) 1608 75
Cupper (Cu) 8920 84
Water (H2O) 1000 500
Mercury (Hg) 13600 1000
Oxigen (O) 3.57 2500

TEMPERATURE: It is a measure of the internal movement of the particles of the body

(the “internal energy”). If these particles move quickly the temperature is high. On the
contrary when the inner particles move slowly the temperature of the body is lower.

All the particles are not moving at the same speed. Some are going very fast and some
are going relatively slow, but most are moving at a speed between the two extremes. The
temperature reading from your thermometer is related to the average kinetic energy
(the energy of motion) of the particles.

Kelvin is the base unit for temperature in the S.I. system. 0 K is called absolute zero, the
temperature at which all atomic/molecular motion ceases.

Let´s see the next video: http://youtu.be/jZzSe-63fNg

 Which of the glasses is hotter, the glass with the red or the blue ink?
 Why do you know that?
 Give the microscopic explanation for this. A hint: http://youtu.be/2Ghd3Fyf-qg

Temperatures are measured with a thermometer. There are three temperature scales:
Centigrade or Celsius (ºC), Kelvin or absolute (K) and Fahrenheit (ºF).
The Celsius scale is the scale we usually use. The Kelvin scale is the one used by scientist
and Fahrenheit scale is used only in anglosaxon countries.

 To change from the Celsius to the Kelvin scale: TK = TC + 273

 To change from Kelvin to Celsius: TC = TK – 273
9𝑇
 To change from Celsius to Fahrenheit: 𝑇𝐹 = + 32
5

5(𝑇𝐹 −32)
 From Fahrenheit to Celsius: 𝑇𝑐 = 9

3. STATES OF MATTER

In this section we start with a video: http://youtu.be/88tK5c0wgH4

Listen carefully to the video and you´ll find the answers to the following questions:
 a) Which is the fourth state of matter?.............................................

b) A plasma is a …………………………………………………………………...................

c) How are the particles in a plasma?............................................................

d) All the solids can melt depending on………………………………………………………………...

e) The ……….. per cent of the matter in the universe is in a plasma state.

f) Where can you found matter in this state?.................................................

g) No matter the state in which matter is, it always have the property

of……………………………………………………….

All substances can be in any of the three states depending of

temperature and pressure

We now know that matter on Earth can be in three states: solid, liquid and gas. Now we
are going to study the properties of each state. Listen to the next video and complete the
table below.

Video 2: https://youtu.be/bMbmQzV-Ezs

Solid Liquid Gas

Shape
Volume
Compresibility
Can flow?

4. THE KINETIC MOLECULAR THEORY

A theory is useful to scientists if it describes the physical system they are

examining and allows them to predict what will happen if they change some variable. The
kinetic molecular theory of gases does just that. It has limitations, all theories do, but it
is one of the most useful theories. Now we will describe the theory´s basic postulates,
assumptions, hypothesis, axioms…

 Gases are composed of tiny particles, either atoms or molecules.

 The gas particles are so small when compared to the distances between them that
the volume the gas particles themselves take up is negligible and is assumed to be
zero.
These gas particles do take up some volume, that´s one of the properties of matter but it is
insignificant when compared to the volume of the container or the space between the gas
particles. Because of all that space between the gas particles, they can be squeezed, for the
particles to get much closer together.
 The gas particles are in constant random motion, moving in straight lines and
colliding with the inside walls of the container.
 Gases have a higher kinetic energy associated with them than solids and liquids do. They
continue to move in these straight lines until they collide with either other particle or with the
 inside wall of the container. The particles also all move in different directions, so the collisions
with the inside walls of the container tend to be uniform over the entire inside surface.
The collision of the gas particles with the inside walls of the container is called
pressure.
The idea that the gas particles are in constant, random, straight-line motion explains why
gases uniformly mix if put it in the same container. It also explains why if you open a bottle of
perfume at one end of the room, the people at the other end of the room are able to smell it
right away. This is called diffusion of gases.
 The gas particles are assumed to have negligible attractive or repulsive forces
between each other. They are assumed to be totally independent, neither attracting nor
repelling each other. This assumption is actually false. If it were true, chemists would never be
able to liquefy a gas. Attractive and repulsive forces are generally so small that they can safely
be ignored.
 The Kelvin temperature is directly proportional to the average kinetic energy of the
gas particles.

A gas that obeys all that postulates is called an ideal gas. Obviously, no real gas obeys
the assumption made in the second and fourth postulates exactly, but a nonpolar gas at
high temperature and low pressure approaches ideal gas behavior.

The kinetic molecular theory was originally made to explain the properties and behavior
of gases, but it can be adapted to explain the behavior of solids and liquids.

Solids: At a microscopic level the particles that make up a solid are very close together
and are not moving very fast. The particles are close together and have little movement
because they are pulled into a rigid, organized structure of repeating patterns called a
crystal lattice. The particles “stand still” in their places because of the intense forces
between them. The particles in the crystal lattice are moving, but barely, it´s more like a
slight vibration.

Liquids: The molecules of a liquid are not as structured as those in the solid state. The
liquid molecules are free to slide over one another and to flow and assume the shape of
the container. Many of the properties of liquids are determined by the attraction of
molecules for each other. These intermolecular attractive forces cause the molecules to
stick together and coalesce into a liquid.
The intermolecular attractions affect the flow rate of a liquid. The stronger the
intermolecular attraction, the slower the flow rate of a liquid. The viscosity of a liquid
refers to its resistance to flow. High viscosity is associated with relatively strong
intermolecular attractive forces.
Certain insects that are heavier than water can float on top of the water due to surface
tension. Surface tension is caused by a difference in direction of intermolecular
attractive forces between those particles at the surface of a liquid and those in the body
of the liquid.

A molecule in the body of the liquid (B) is surrounded by

the attraction from other liquid molecules. There is equal
attraction from all sides. A molecule at the surface of the
liquid (A) is attracted only toward the interior of the
liquid. It is not balanced by an attraction from above.
This inward pull of the surface molecules is known
as a surface tension.
As a consequence the liquid tends to form as small a
surface as possible.
A sphere is the three-dimensional figure with the smallest surface area. Water and other
liquids tend to form droplets or small spheres because of the inward pull on surface
molecules.

The state of a substance depends on the conditions of pressure and

temperature it is.

Comprehension test: (Answer the following questions)

 Why gases can´t be squeezed?

 What is the cause of the pressure in a gas?
 Why the gases mix uniformly between them?
 How are the forces between the particles of a gas?
 What is the cause of the temperature in a gas?
 How are the forces between the particles of a solid?
 How are organized the particles in a solid?
 Can the particles in the crystal lattice be without any movement at all?
 Why a liquid can flow?
 What is the viscosity of a liquid?
 The forces between the particles in a liquid will be …………………………..than in a gas
and…………………………………..than in a solid.

5. PHASE CHANGES

Phase changes occur when materials change state, going from liquid to solid (as when
water freezes), solid to liquid (as when rocks melt into lava), liquid to gas (as when you
boil water for a cup of tea), and so on. When the material in question changes to a
new state, some heat goes into or comes out of it without changing the
temperature.

First we are going to learn about the names of the phase changes. Let´s see the video
(http://youtu.be/0-ZWS9Wq-uc ) and complete the scheme with the names of the phase
changes.

LIQUID

SOLID GAS

The phase change from liquid to solid is called vaporization. Vaporization can occurs in
two ways. We´ll see this in the following video. Read the questions and then try to
answer them. We´ll listen to the video twice (even thrice if necessary…), then, you will
have enough time to answer the question. Try to elaborate a clear sentence.
Read the questions bellow before listening in order to focus your attention on the correct
information.

Video: http://youtu.be/qJRxYBIfZlE

 The water may change to gas (water vapor) by two different processes

called………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

 What´s the difference between evaporation and boiling? (There are two):

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

 What´s happening into the liquid when it boils?

………........................................................................................................

 The fixed temperature at which a liquid become a gas by boiling is

called………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

 A solid can change into a liquid by heating to a fixed temperature which is

called………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

 Zero degrees Celsius, the melting point of ice is the same

as………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

 Most liquid occupies less space when they are solid

because……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

 What´s the reason of the increase of volume of ice respecting

water?......................................................................................................

 What is dry ice made up?............................................................................

 6. PROCESSES WITH GASES

Gases are all around you. Because gases are generally invisible, you may not
think of them directly, but you are certainly aware of their properties. You breath a
mixture of gases that you call air, you check the atmospheric pressure to see if a storm
is coming. You fill birthday ballons with gases for your loved ones.

We have seen the gases at a microscopic way and now we will use this to study
them at a macroscopic way. We will study the relationships between the variables that
describe the gas in a macroscopic way.

To describe the gas we will use the following variables: the temperature, the
pressure and the volume. We will suppose that we have always the same amount of gas.
Do you remember the S.I. unit for the amount of substance?

Remember:

 The temperature of a gas is directly related to the average kinetic energy

of its particles. The hotter the gas, the faster the particles will be.
 The pressure of a gas is related to the collisions of the gas particles with the
inside walls of the container. You can measure the pressure of a gas
confined in a container by using an apparatus called a manometer. The
pressure is a derivated magnitude (a force divided by an area) and the
units used to express the pressure are: millimeters of mercury (mm Hg),
atmospheres (atm) that is a unit of pressure where 1 atm is the pressure al
sea level, torr = 1 mm Hg, pascals (Pa), it´s the S.I. unit of pressure…

At sea level, you can express the atmospheric pressure as:

760 mm Hg = 1 atm = 760 torr = 101325 Pa

GASES´ LAWS

Answer the following questions about the videos in your notebook.

VIDEO 1: http://youtu.be/eYeRA--Xq0E

1. How many laws do we have for gases?

2. The first law is called_________________________
3. What are the rules of the ideal gas club?
4. In Boyle´s law: What variable are we going to change? What variable are we
going to keep the same?
5. Boyle´s law corresponds to the relation between pressure and volume. How is this
relation between both variables?
6. Write the mathematical equation corresponding to this relation.

Exercise 1: Suppose you 5 liters of a gas at 1 atm pressure, and then you decrease the
volume to 2 liters. What´s the new pressure?
 VIDEO 2: http://youtu.be/bWhs5L_gBTI

7. Charles´ law is the relation between ________________________ and

_______________, maintaining the ___________________the same.
8. How are related the volume and temperature of a gas?
9. Try to write the mathematical equation for these variables.

Exercise 2: Suppose you live in Alaska and are outside in the middle of the winter,
where the temperature is -23 degrees Celsius. You blow up a balloon so that it has a
volume of 1 liter. You then take it inside your home, where the temperature is a
toasty 27 degrees Celsius. What´s the new volume of the balloon?

VIDEO 3: http://youtu.be/Cr7xGEI0KDc

10. How is the third law called?

11. In the third law, the____________________ is keeping the same.
12. Which is the pressure-temperature law?

Exercise 3: If you have a tank of gas al 800 torr pressure and a temperature of 250 K,
and it´s heated to 400 kelvin, what´s the new pressure

REMEMBER: In laws two and three (when temperature is dividing in the

formula) you have to use the absolute temperature to do the exercises
 EXERCISES

1) FILL IN THE BLANKS WITH THE WORDS BELLOW

vacuum work means random molecules collide container mass behavior

phases amount empty charged kinetic neutral volume commonly plasma

The Universe is made of matter, energy and …............................ Matter is anything

which has …........................... and occupies a …..........................., energy is the
ability to do a…........................... and vacuum is a volume of space that is
…........................... of matter.
Matter is …........................... said to exist in four states or …...........................: solid,
liquid, gas and …............................ Plasma is a state of matter similar to a gas in which
a certain…........................... of the particles is ionized. Ionized means electrically
…..........................., e.g.with more or with less electrons than a …...........................
atom.
The …........................... theory tries to give an explanation of the …...........................
of a gas by …........................... of the …........................... motion of particles, that is
atoms and…............................ The moving particles …........................... with each
other and with the walls of the …............................

2) THE RIGHT OPTION

A phase transition is the transformation / transforming of one state / estate of

matter to another. It is typical a change in some variables and the constancy
/constance of others, mainly the temperature. Solid, liquid and gas may coexist / to
coexist in the so called triple point. At that point, it is possible to change the sustance
/ substance to ice, liquid water, or water vapour by making small changes in presure
/ pressure and temperature.
Vapor pressure is the pressure of a vapour in thermodynamic / termodinamic
equilibrium with its liquid. At / In reaching the boiling point, bubbles formed in the inside
of the liquid are not air but the liquid substance which has converted / transformed
into vapour. When the gas in touch with a liquid inside a closed container is expelled, the
liquid evaporates instantaneously. That is what is called a flash evaporation.
In astronomy and cosmology, dark matter is matter that nor / neither emits nor /
neither scatters light or other electromagnetic radiation, and so cannot be directly
ponderated / detected. Dark matter is hoped / believed to constitute 83% of the
matter in the universe. One hypothesis /hypotesis is that dark matter is made of
neutrinos, an electrically neutral tiny particle.
3) PHRASE ORDER

Arrange these sentences:

a) a to internal describes fluid's Viscosity resistance flow.
….......................................................................................................................
b) A to the container. a able and liquid shape of flow take is
….......................................................................................................................
c) The is of a thermal kinetic energy system's energy particles. the
….......................................................................................................................
d) is the an in expansion response increase to temperature. Thermal
….......................................................................................................................
e) A of is method. change also purification state a
….......................................................................................................................

4) GASES
4. Five liters of oxygen gas exist at a pressure of 700 torr. If the pressure is decreased to
600 torr and temperature is constant, what will be the new volume?

5. An aerosol spray can has a volume of 0,15 liters. It is designed so that it can deliver
1000 times its original volume to a new pressure assumed equal to one atmosphere.
What is the original pressure inside the can?

6. An amount of gas at 10º C and 2 liters volume is heated to 50º C. Determine the new
volume if the pressure remains constant.

7. A sample of neon gas occupies 100 mL. volume at 100 ºC. The sample is heated to
200º C. What is the new volume of neon? (pressure unchanged)

8. A sample of chlorine gas occupies 100 mL at -11ºC. Heating (with no increase in

pressure) changes its volume to 150 mL. What is the new temperature in degrees
Celsius?

9. The air contained in a syringe occupies 10 cm 3 at 1 atm pressure. What is the final
volume occupied by the air when the pressure is increased up to 2,5 atm without
changing the temperature?

10.A balloon contains 21 L of hydrogen gas at a pressure of 1140 mm Hg. If you

compress the gas to reduce its volume to a value of 14 L in an isothermic process,
calculate the new pressure. Express the result in atm.

11.A gas in a container with a fixed volume exerts a pressure of 320 mm Hg at 40

degrees Celsius of temperature. What is the new pressure exerted for the gas at a
temperature of 159º C?
12. A gas is heated from 10ºC to 60ºC following a isobaric process. If 15,4 L is the initial
volume of the gas, what is the final volume?

13. The air in a balloon is at 20 degrees Celsius with a 1,82 atm pressure. Because of the
bounces, the temperature of the gas increases to 45ºC. What is the new pressure
exerted by the gas?

14. A certain amount of gas occupies 80 cm 3 at 20ºC of temperature. What will be the
volume occupied by the same gas at a temperature of 10º C if the pressure remains the
same?

15. The air in a tyre is at 15 ºC with a pressure of 2 atm. What is the final temperature
og the gas in the tyre, if the friction with the road provokes an increasing pressure up to
2,21 atm.

PROJECT 2: Do some bibliographic research about the Italian physicist Torricelli and
how he measured the atmospheric pressure. You have to explain step by step the
Torricelli´s experiment. You must include some drawings or pictures that made the
things clearer.

CROSSWORDS

Across: Down:

Any of the forms in which a substance is depending The kind of energy

1 on its condition of temperature and pressure 2 involved in phase
changes
Volume is ______________________to kelvin
6 temperature in Charles´ law 3 First law of gases

When the change from liquid to gas occurs only in Phase change from
7 the surface of a liquid, the process is called: 4 liquid to gas

8 It is the direct phase change from solid to gas The opposite of

5 vaporization
It measures the average kinetic energy of particles
9 in a gas It is measure with a
10 manometer
11 Phase change from solid to liquid

12 Unit of pressure in the international unit of system

13 The opposite of melting

 1 2 3

9 10

11

12

13