Figure 4.3 Seventh Grade Chain NoteWhat Is Matter?¾ Matter is all around us and makes up everything.
¾ Matter takes up space and has mass.
¾ Matter has volume and mass.
¾ You can see or feel matter.
¾ Some kinds of matter can’t be seen, like gasses.
¾ Matter is in solid, liquid, and gas forms.
¾ Matter can be solid, liquid, or gas and also elements and compounds.
¾ Matter has atoms in it. Almost everything has atoms in it.
¾ All things made out of atoms are matter.
¾ Atoms are small, but they are matter even without being seen.
¾ You can’t see some kinds of matter. It’s there if you can feel or small it. Air is there; you
can’t see it, but you can smell it.¾ Gases are matter because they can take up space that fills up. When you blow up a
balloon, it doesn’t weigh too much.¾ Matter has weight if enough matter is there to weigh something.
¾ Sound doesn’t weigh anything, but it’s there because I can hear sound. It’s not matter –
it’s something like energy that isn’t matter but still moves around, and you can feel it
sometimes.¾ Heat is like that. You can feel heat, but heat isn’t matter because you can’t hold it., so it is
something different – maybe matter that is a kind of energy.
They are two different scientific things.¾ They are different and kind of the same; matter and energy can both be felt.
¾ Some energies fill up space like light and get used up.
¾ Light isn’t matter because it’s like a gas – you can’t hold it or weigh it.
¾ Some matter can’t be weighed or held. It depends on its form, whether it is a solid or
liquid or gas.