MATTER

Definition and States of Matter

• Anything that has mass and can occupy a space.
• There are three (3) states of matter:
• Solid: Characterised by rigidity, relatively
incompressible and has a fixed shape and volume.
e.g. Ice cube, iron bar, etc.
• Liquid: Relatively incompressible fluid. Has fixed
volume but no fixed shape. e.g. water, gasoline
etc.
• Gas: Easily compressible fluid. A gas will fill its
container or almost any size and shape. e.g. air,
oxygen, helium, etc.
 Mixtures and Pure Substances.
• Virtually all the matter around us consists of
mixtures of substances or Pure substances.
e.g. air, soil, etc.

• Pure Substance: Always have the same

composition. They are either elements or
compounds.
 Elements, Compounds and Mixtures
• An Element is a substance that cannot be
decomposed by any chemical reaction into
simpler substances.
•
• A Compound is a substance composed of 2 or
more elements chemically combined together.
•
• Mixtures: A mixture is a material that can be
separated by physical means into 2 or more
substances.
• They are classified into 2 types:
• A Heterogeneous mixture and A Homogeneous
mixture
 A homogeneous mixture
• A homogeneous mixture (also called solution) is a
mixture that is uniform in its properties throughout
the given sample.
• Example: when a salt (solute) is dissolved in water and
stir well. All parts of the resulting mixture have the
same properties.
• Homogeneous mixtures are called solutions.
• When a solid substance dissolve in a liquid substance:
• The solid is called SOLUTE, e.g. NaCl
• The liquid is called SOLVENT e.g. H2O.
• NaCl(s) + H2O(l) --------- NaCl(aq)
• Solute solvent solution
 Heterogeneous mixture
• Heterogeneous mixture: This contains regions
that have different properties from those of
other regions.
• Example: sand in water, concrete, etc.
 Extensive and Intensive Properties
•