Unit 4 Vocabulary: Matter and Changes in State

Law of Conservation of Matter

fundamental principle that matter cannot be created or destroyed in a closed system

Solid

defined shape and volume, particles are packed very close together in an arrangement

Crystalline

a solid that is made up of crystals in which particles are arranged in a regular, repeating pattern (table salt, quartz)

Amorphous

a solid that is made up of which particles are asymmetrical, have a random pattern that is not repeating (glass, plastic)

Liquid

defined volume, lacks a defined shape, particles are not packed as close as solid, meaning they slide against each other (water, oil, and alcohol)

Aqueous

specifically a solution in which the solvent is water, so, all aqueous solutions are liquids, but not all liquids are aqueous.

Solution

a solution is a homogeneous mixture of one or more solutes dissolved in a solvent

Homogeneous Mixture

mixture of two or more substances that are evenly distributed throughout, with uniform particles (chocolate milk)

Heterogeneous Mixture

mixture of two or more substances where the composition is not uniform throughout, and the individual components can be detected (corn soup)

Solvent

substance, ordinarily a liquid, in which other materials dissolve to form a solution

Solute

a substance that is dissolved in a solution

Gas

lacks either defined shape or volume, particles are widely separated and move freely in any direction

Plasma

same definition as gas, however, the particles are electrically charged with ions and are separated by vast differences (lightning, aurora, mainly found in the sun and space)

Physical change

any change that occurs without altering the chemical makeup of a substance (change appearance, phase changes)

Physical property

characteristic of a substance that can be observed from physical change (luster, hardness, malleable, melting point, density, etc.)

Phase Changes

when kinetic energy changes due to particle movement. Particle movement is mainly caused by some sort of change of temperature on the substance (hot makes particles move faster, thus becoming a different state of matter)

Melting

solid to liquid using high temperatures

Vaporization

liquid to gas using very high temperatures

Evaporation

A type of vaporization, by which molecules at the surface of a liquid absorb enough energy from heat to change to a gas

Ionization

gas to plasma, gas particles in the upper atmosphere of earth use very very very high temperatures to remove an electron (ionization energy)

Recombination

plasma to gas, where charged particles combine or transfer electrons to neutralize ions, thus returning to gas particles

Condensation

gas to liquid using lower temperatures

Freezing

liquid to solid using low temperatures

Sublimation

solid to gas without passing through the liquid state particles absorbing heat energy to overcome forces holding it together

Deposition

gas to solid without passing through liquid state, settling of particles onto a surface