Properties of Matter - Just as you use several adjectives to describe someone (color of hair or eyes, how tall or short,

etc.) several properties, or characteristics, must be used in combination to adequately describe a kind of matter. Simply saying that something is a colorless liquid isn't enough to identify it as water. A lot of liquids are colorless, e.g. most alcohols and cyclohexane, as well as many solutions. More details are needed before one can zero in on the identity of a substance. Chemists will therefore, determine several properties, both chemical and physical, in order to characterize a particular sample of matter. The following chart shows the differences between the two kinds of properties, chemical and physical, as well as how the two kinds of physical properties, intensive and extensive, differ.

The Structure of Matter - The Greeks were the first to speculate that matter was discrete, in the form of particles. The word atom derives from the Greek () for indivisible. Democretus, argued that matter on the large scale is composed of atoms and that different substances were composed of different atoms or combinations of atoms. Furthermore, one could substance could be converted into another simply be re-arranging the atoms. The atomic theory was roundly rejected by Aristotle, and, thus, by almost everybody else for the next two millennia. The modern definition of an element was made in 1661 by Robert Boyle. An element is a substance that cannot be broken down into simpler substances but can form compounds with other elements. There are 88 naturally occurring elements (not the much reported 92 natural elements - The elements Tc, Pm, At and Fr have no stable isotopes, and none of long half-life, so they are not naturally present.) Including man-made elements, at the time of writing (Dec, 2006) there are 117 elements. The existance of these more massive elements is fleeting with elements lasting from a few microseconds to about 30 seconds. For the Greeks, atoms were as far as the indivisibility of matter went. However, in 1906 J. J. Thompson discovered a negatively charged particle which eventually became known as an electron. Early models the atom considered 'atom as a nice hard fellows, red or gray in color, according to taste', in which the charged particles were distributed much like the plums in a Plum pudding. However, this model of the atoms was shown to be wrong by Rutherford's experiment, in which a high energy beam of alpha particles was fired at a very thin gold foil. Ruferford's alpha particle experiment. If the plum pudding model of the atom was correct then the alpha particles would pass through the foil with little deflection. As shown in the figure.

Expected results and actual results of experiment.Most of the alpha particle passed through the foil with very little deflection. However, about 1 in every 8000 was scattered through an angle of more than 90 degrees. To Rutherford this was incredible. It was quite the most incredible event that has ever happened to me in my life. It was almost as incredible as if you had fired a 15-inch shell at a piece of tissue-paper and it came back and hit you. For the alpha particles to be scattered through such large angles and even coming back on themselves, they had to encounter a massive concentration of charged particles of very small size. The back scattering of alpha particles showed that most of the mass of the atom was concentrated at the nucleus. Properties describe matter. A block of wood, milk, and air all have properties. All the material on earth is in three states-solid, liquid, and gas. The "state" of the matter refers to the group of matter with the same properties. In other words, you group the objects together according to their properties. SolidsThe wood block is solid. A solid has a certain size and shape. The wood block does not change size or shape. Other examples of solids are the computer, the desk, and the floor.You can change the shape of solids. You change the shape of sheets of lumber by sawing it in half or burning it. From wood to How might you change the shape of a piece of gum? Liquids Milk is a liquid. Milk is liquid matter. It has a size or volume. Volume means it takes up space. But milk doesn't have a definite shape. It takes the shape of its container. Liquids can flow, be poured, and spilled. Did you ever spill juice? Did you notice how the liquid goes everywhere and you have to hurry and wipe it up? The liquid is taking the shape of the floor and the floor is expansive limitless boundary (until it hits the wall). You can't spill a wooden block. You can drop it and it still has the same shape. What about jello and peanut butter? You can spread peanut butter on bread, but peanut butter does not flow. It is not a liquid at room temperature. You have to heat peanut butter up to make it a liquid. When you or your mom makes jello, it is first a liquid. You have to put it in the refrigerator so that it becomes a solid. These are yummy forms of matter with properties of a liquid and a solid. Gases Run in place very fast for a minute. Do you notice how hard you are breathing? What you are breathing is oxygen? You need oxygen to live. That's why you can only hold your breath for a certain amount of time. You can't see oxygen. It's invisible. It is a gas. A gas is matter that has no shape or size of its own. Gases have no color. Gases are all around you. You can feel gas when the wind blows. The wind is moving air. Air is many gases mixed together.