Matter

Matter
 

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As we look at our surroundings we see a great number of things with a variety of shapes, textures and sizes. In classical physics and general chemistry, everything around us that have mass, volume, and occupy space is called matter. All physical objects are composed of matter, and an easily observed property of matter is its state or phase.  So we can say that everything in this universe is composed of a material or substance in scientific term we called “matter”.

              Since the ancient times, humans have been trying to understand their surroundings. Do you know that early Indian philosophers differentiated matter in the theory of Pancha Tattva (from Sanskrit Pancha meaning "five" and Tattva "truth" or "reality") specifically to the five aspects of God or Absolute Truth or   The "panchamahabhutas". These are:

·        Prithvi                   =Earth

·        Jal                          = Water

·        Agni                       =Fire

·         Vayu                     = Air

·        Akash                    =Space or Sky

The entire universe is created by these five elements whether it living or non- living.

 

Modern day scientists have evolved two kinds of classification of matter based on their basic  physical properties and chemical properties.

 

 

 

MATTER’S PHYSICAL NATURE

 Matter is made up of tiny particles (or corpuscule in older texts). The particles are very small in size. These particles have spaces between them. These particles are constantly moving that is they possess (to own something) what we call the kinetic energy. As the temperature increases particle move faster which means the kinetic energy of the particles also rises. Particles attract each other by a intermolecular force known as intermolecular force of attraction.

STATES OF MATTER

As we see in our surroundings there are 4 (four) different forms in which matter can exists, they are:

1.     Solid Form

2.     Liquid Form

3.     gas Form

4.     plasma

In your brain one query will occur i.e. why there are only four states of matter; these states of matter arise due to the variation in the characteristics of the particle of the particles of matter.

Now, we will start states of matter

 

                  I.            SOLID STATE OF  MATTER 

This form of matter have a definite shape, size, distinct boundaries which separates them from their surroundings and a fixed volume i.e. the compressibility, the compressibility of solids is so less that we neglect this and assume that solids are incompressible. {The compressibility of solids is nearly equal to zero (0)}.

 The particles in the solid are touching with very little space between them. Solid particles vibrate in place. 

Activity 1: Go outside and get a stone then try to change its shape it will break into pebbles but it will not change its shape.

  Solids have a tendency to preserve their shape when subjected (interacted) to outer forces. Therefore, solids may break under force but it is difficult to change their shape, so they are rigid. 

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II.                              I.            LIQUID STATES OF MATTER

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These forms of matter DO NOT have a definite (fixed) shape but have a fixed volume. They take up the shape of container in which they are kept.

 

  Activity 2:  Take a glass of water, yet the shape will be cylindrical, and then pour that water in a bottle it will take up the shape of the bottle.

Therefore LIQUIDS don’t have a fixed shape but they can flow, change shape, so they are not rigid but can be called fluid.

Activity 3: Take a glass of water now add some salt and mix it well after some time you will notice that the salt will disappear,  why it happen?

Because the particles in the liquid usually are still touching but there some spaces between them. So the salt particles get into the spaces between particles of water. This inters mixing of particles of two unlike or dissimilar types of matter on their owm are called DIFFUSION. 

               III.             GASEOUS STATE OF  MATTER

 These forms of matter DO NOT have a definite (fixed) shape and fixed volume. In a gas, particles are in continual straight-line motion. The kinetic energy of the molecule is greater than the attractive force between the, thus they are much farther apart and move freely of each other. In most cases, there are essentially no attractive forces between particles. This means the gas has nothing to hold a definite shape or volume.  

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Gases are highly compressible as compared to solids and liquids. Examples are: LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas), CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) etc.

Due to this high compressibility, large volumes of gas can be compressed into small cylinders and transported easily.

Activity 4: Do you ever think that the smell whether it is pleasant or bad reaches us in few seconds? Let us assume that your mother is cooking food in the kitchen, and the aroma (a pleasant smell) of food reaches to your nostrils, how does this smell reaches you in a short time period?

This is because of the high speed of particles and large space between them, gases shows the property of diffusing rapidly into other gases.

  In gaseous state, the particles move about randomly at high speed. Due to this random movement, the particles hit each other and also the walls of the container. The pressure applied by the gas is because of this force exerted by gas particles per unit area on the wall of container.

This can be understood by “Kinetic Theory of Gases”.  

                    IV.           PLASMA STATE OF MATTER

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Plasma, in physics, an electrically conducting medium in which there are roughly equivalent numbers of positively and negatively charged particles, produced when the atoms in a gas become ionized. It is occasionally referred to as the fourth state of matter, different from the solid, liquid and gaseous states.

The negative charge is generally carried by electrons, each of which has one unit of negative charge. The positive charge is typically carried by atoms or molecules that are missing those same electrons. In some rare but interesting cases, electrons missing from one type of atom or molecule become attached to another component, resulting in plasma containing both positive and negative ions. 

A plasma may be produced in the laboratory by heating a gas to an tremendously high temperature, which causes such dynamic collisions between its atoms and molecules that electrons are ripped free, yielding the necessary electrons and ions. A similar process occurs inside stars. In space the dominant plasma formation process is photo ionization, wherein photons from sunlight or starlight are absorbed by an existing gas, causing electrons to be emitted. 

Since the Sun and stars shine continuously, virtually all the matter becomes ionized in such cases, and the plasma is said to be completely ionized. This necessitate not be the case, however, for plasma may be only partially ionized. A totally ionized hydrogen plasma, consisting exclusively of electrons and protons (hydrogen nuclei), is the most basic plasma.There is one more state of matter which are not commonly seen:

 

                    V.           BOSE–EINSTEIN CONDENSATE (BEC)

                      BOSE–EINSTEIN CONDENSATE (BEC) is a state of matter (also called the fifth state of matter) which is typically formed when a gas of bosons at low densities is cooled to temperatures very close to absolute zero (−273.15 °C or −459.67 °F). Under such situations, a large fraction of bosons take up the lowest quantum state, at which point microscopic quantum mechanical phenomena, mainly wave function interference, become clear macroscopically. A BEC is formed by cooling a gas of enormously low density about {(1/100,000) the density of normal air} to ultra-low temperatures.

This state was first predicted, generally, by Albert Einstein following and crediting a revolutionary paper by Satyendra Nath Bose on the new field now known as quantum statistics.

CHANGING OF STATES OF MATTER

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It can unquestionably change its shape, size, and volume. For instance, water (H₂O) turns into ice upon freezing, here the state of water changes from the liquid state into the solid state; the matter itself doesn’t change but it transforms its shape. The components of water stay the same just the shape differs.

 

EVAPORATION

Evaporation changes the form of water from liquid state to gaseous state.  Evaporation and transpiration (which involves evaporation within plant stomata) are collectively termed Evapo-transpiration. Evaporation of water occurs when the surface of the liquid is exposed, allowing molecules to escape and form water vapor; this vapor can then rise up and form clouds.

Its physical state depends on the physical conditions such as temperature, climate, humidity, etc. Usually, in order to change the state of liquids into a solid state, one reduces the temperature. Generally, liquids are less dense than solids because their molecules have little or no space in between them. The freezing process compressed the molecules into a smaller space.

The process of changing a matter from solid state to a liquid state is Melting or Fusion. And the process of converting it from liquid state to solid state is called Freezing.

VAPORIZATION

Vaporization or boiling is another process that turns a matter into a gaseous state from liquid state. It can turn from gaseous form to liquid form with the help of condensation.

SUBLIMATION

Sublimation is a process which transforms it from solid form to gaseous form directly. And the deposition transforms gaseous state to solid state.

IONIZATION

 Ionization is a process that converts gas into plasma. Lastly, the process of recombination changes plasma into gas. The term phase is a synonym for state of matter, although a system can contain several immiscible phases of the same state. Solid, liquid, gaseous and plasma are the four states of substances.