Physical Science - Lesson 1: Matter

This set of vocabulary flashcards covers the fundamental definitions of matter, its properties, phases, and the different types of changes it undergoes.

Chemistry

The study of matter and the changes it undergoes, including the properties, composition, and structure of substances.

Matter

Anything that occupies space and has mass.

Physical Property

A substance that can be observed or measured without changing the identity of the substance; these can be expressed in numbers, including mass, melting point, and hardness.

Chemical Property

Describes a substance's ability to change into a different substance; it can be observed or measured only by changing the identity of a substance.

Extensive Property

A physical property that depends on the size of the sample, such as mass, internal energy, enthalpy, and entropy.

Intensive Property

A physical property that is independent of the size of the sample, such as density, molar, volume, and boiling point.

Solid

A rigid form of matter that maintains the same shape, whatever the shape of its container.

Liquid

A fluid form of matter that takes the shape of the part of the container it occupies.

Gas

A phase of matter that has no definite shape and no definite volume.

Physical Change

A change wherein the chemical composition of the substances involved remains the same.

Chemical Change

A change where original atoms are preserved, but a new substance with a different chemical composition from the original material has been found.

Nuclear Change

A change in the composition of the nuclei of atoms where one kind of atom is transmuted into another.