Matter in Our Surroundings

A set of vocabulary flashcards based on the physical properties of matter and its classification.

Matter

Anything that has mass and occupies space.

Mass

A measure of the amount of matter in an object, typically measured in kilograms.

Volume

The amount of space that a substance or object occupies, measured in cubic meters or liters.

Panch Tatva

The five basic elements according to early Indian philosophers: air, earth, fire, sky, and water.

Continuous Matter

The concept that matter can be uniformly continuous, similar to a block of wood.

Particulate Matter

The belief that matter is made up of individual particles, like grains of sand.

Diffusion

The process by which particles spread from areas of high concentration to areas of low concentration.

Kinetic Energy

The energy that particles possess due to their motion; increases with temperature.

Latent Heat of Fusion

The amount of heat required to change 1 kg of solid into liquid at its melting point.

Latent Heat of Vaporization

The amount of heat required to change 1 kg of liquid into gas at its boiling point.

Sublimation

The process where a solid changes directly to gas without passing through the liquid state.

Deposition

The process where gas changes directly to solid without passing through the liquid state.

Compressibility

The ability of a substance to decrease in volume under pressure, most pronounced in gases.

Evaporation

The process in which molecules at the surface of a liquid gain enough energy to enter the gas phase at any temperature.

Density

The mass per unit volume of a substance.

Gaseous State

The state of matter where particles move freely and are far apart, resulting in no defined shape or volume.

Liquid State

The state of matter with a definite volume but no definite shape, allowing it to flow and take the shape of the container.

Solid State

The state of matter with a definite shape and volume due to closely packed particles.