Matter Science
Chapter 15:
• Matter is anything that has mass and takes up space.
– Ex: Your textbook, you, your pen/pencil, air, etc.
• Classification systems are used all the time to organize objects.
– Ex: The Periodic Table of Elements, organizing your locker, your clothes, etc.
• In order to make the study of matter easier to understand, scientists have developed ways to classify matter.
• The properties of materials can be used to classify them into general categories.
– Ex: Pure substances, elements, compounds, mixtures, etc.
• Materials are made of a pure substance or a mixture of substances.
– Substance: A type of matter with a fixed composition.
• A substance can either be an element or a compound.
– Ex: Helium, Aluminum, Water, Salt, etc.
• Elements are built from atoms.
– Atom: The smallest particle of an element that still retains the properties of the element.
– Element: Simplest type of pure substance.
• Elements cannot be changed into simpler substances by any physical or chemical means.
• About 90 elements are found on Earth, and more than 20 others have been made in the laboratory (radioactive).
– Ex: Iron (Fe), Carbon (C), Oxygen (O), Gold (Au), Uranium (U), etc.
• Each element is designated by a one or two letter symbol that is used worldwide.
• Symbols for the elements are always a single capital letter or a capital letter followed by a lowercase letter.
• Chemical symbols are just a shorthand way of representing the elements.
• Some of the symbols are from the Latin or German names.
– Ex: Tungsten (W = Wolfram), Sodium (Na = Nadium), Gold (Au = Aurum), Potassium (K = Kalium), Lead (Pb = Plumbum), etc.
• Each of the more than 110 elements that we know of is unique and has different properties from the rest. • Compounds are pure substances made of atoms of two or more different elements that are chemically combined.
– Ex: Water (Hydrogen and Oxygen), Nylon (Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, and Oxygen), Table Salt (Sodium and
• Matter is anything that has mass and takes up space.
– Ex: Your textbook, you, your pen/pencil, air, etc.
• Classification systems are used all the time to organize objects.
– Ex: The Periodic Table of Elements, organizing your locker, your clothes, etc.
• In order to make the study of matter easier to understand, scientists have developed ways to classify matter.
• The properties of materials can be used to classify them into general categories.
– Ex: Pure substances, elements, compounds, mixtures, etc.
• Materials are made of a pure substance or a mixture of substances.
– Substance: A type of matter with a fixed composition.
• A substance can either be an element or a compound.
– Ex: Helium, Aluminum, Water, Salt, etc.
• Elements are built from atoms.
– Atom: The smallest particle of an element that still retains the properties of the element.
– Element: Simplest type of pure substance.
• Elements cannot be changed into simpler substances by any physical or chemical means.
• About 90 elements are found on Earth, and more than 20 others have been made in the laboratory (radioactive).
– Ex: Iron (Fe), Carbon (C), Oxygen (O), Gold (Au), Uranium (U), etc.
• Each element is designated by a one or two letter symbol that is used worldwide.
• Symbols for the elements are always a single capital letter or a capital letter followed by a lowercase letter.
• Chemical symbols are just a shorthand way of representing the elements.
• Some of the symbols are from the Latin or German names.
– Ex: Tungsten (W = Wolfram), Sodium (Na = Nadium), Gold (Au = Aurum), Potassium (K = Kalium), Lead (Pb = Plumbum), etc.
• Each of the more than 110 elements that we know of is unique and has different properties from the rest. • Compounds are pure substances made of atoms of two or more different elements that are chemically combined.
– Ex: Water (Hydrogen and Oxygen), Nylon (Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, and Oxygen), Table Salt (Sodium and