Lesson 5.1.1 - What is Matter?

In lesson 1, we talk about matter as being anything that has mass and takes up space. Matter as combinations of atoms and molecules makes up the world around us. Matter generally exists in one of three states: solids, liquids, and gasses. We will look at these states and the transitions between each. In this lesson, we will also be discussing how we can measure the mass, or amount of matter in an object. An objects mass can be measured using a balance scale. We will also look at the measurement of volume – the amount of space that an object takes up. Liquid volumes can be measured using graduated cylinders, while the volume of solid objects can be measured through a process called displacement. The ability to accurately measure mass and volume are important skills for many of our lab activities, and students will have the opportunity during this lesson to practice measuring the mass and volume of several different objects.