General Concept of Matter.

-Matter

Matter is the reason behind the existence of Chemistry as a field of study and it is all we are trying to understand. Therefore,  to have a clear understanding of Chemistry, you must get a clear view of what is matter and how relevant it is in the study of Chemistry. 

Alright, What is matter? 

Think of anything around you, that you can see and touch? The first thing for sure is your smartphone! Anything else? Yes, a book. Again? My bag, a tree, and a bucket, e.t.c 

Image 1: Definition of Matter. 

So, now in a simple language, Matter is anything that has mass and can occupy space. It's pretty clear and simple, right? Good!

- State of Matter.

In all the things you can see, touch or feel around you. They exist in three major forms. Previously,  your smartphone (solid), a book and tree (all solid). What of water, petrol, groundout/palm oil and soft drinks or beer (all liquid). Think of air, the oxygen we breath or the steam after your water boils (Gas), right? Yes!!!

Alright, anything you can see and touch that has mass and can occupy a space, is either in solid, liquid or gas. 

Therefore, Matter can exist in three physical states;

1. Solid state
2. Liquid state
3. Gaseous state

But, does matter always remain in its physical state forever? No. Sometimes a substance can change from solid to liquid, liquid to solid and liquid to gas and so on. These changes involved the following process as summarized in the image below;

Image 2: Changes of state of Matter. 

A typical example of matter that can undergoe these changes is WATER. Water can change from ice (solid) to liquid water (through melting), it also change from liquid to gas (through vaporization, when heated) and vice-versa. 

-Properties of Matter

This is another important basic part of Chemistry. To identify a particular substance, we look at the characteristics it possess. These characteristics are called properties and they may be physical (something that we can see) or chemical (unseen characteristics ).

Examples of physical properties include; Colour, Odour, Melting point, boiling point, e.t.c

Examples of chemical properties include; flammability, Toxicity,  Acidity,  Reactivity,  e.t.c

Hope you enjoyed today's lesson and don't forget to drop your question in the comment section below or contact us using our contact form. Please share with others as well. Thank you