Wesley Hubbard
1st block
Chemistry
January 23, 2013

Matter: Anything and Everything

The desk you’re sitting at, the water you drink, and even the air you breathe is matter. Anything that has mass and volume is matter. You could not go a single day without some type of interaction with it. No matter how far you travel, it’s a never ending substance that we as human beings must grasp. We now know that there are two types of matter; this includes pure substances and mixtures. Each of the two types has their own physical and chemical properties that make it unique. Even then there are four stages that matter can occur: solid, liquid, gas, and plasma. This multitude of different combinations of circumstances develops many different types of matter. Pure substances have a unique chemical formula. Each sample of a pure substance will be the same, excluding margin of error. Pure substances could either be a compound, or an element. A compound is where two or more elements are combined chemically. An example of a compound is water, which combines two hydrogen atoms with one oxygen atom. An element is a substance that cannot be broken down into a simpler substance and contains only one type of atom. Hydrogen or oxygen by itself would be considered an element Mixtures are a blend of two or more kinds of matter that retain their own identity and properties. However, unlike pure substances, mixtures can be separated easily, whether by evaporation, or filtration. There are two types of mixtures: Homogenous, and heterogeneous. Homogenous solutions have a fixed uniform, meaning each sample will be the same. Some examples are: Air, sugar water, and stainless steel. The other type, heterogeneous, does not have a fixed uniform. Sample compositions vary. Some examples are: Granite, wood, and blood. All classifications of matter have distinct physical and chemical properties. Physical properties can be observed without changing the identity of the substance, such as color, size, and boiling point. Chemical properties are only observable by changing the chemical nature of the matter. Like reactivity, or flammability. The only way to test flammability is to put a flame to it, potentially destroying the substance. One of the chemical properties of charcoal, which is carbon, is its ability to burn in the air. This would be a chemical change, or chemical reaction. A chemical change is when one or more substances are converted into different substances. The substances that are in the chemical change are the reactants, the substances after the change is the products. Physical and chemical properties can also be