CONTENTS INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF MATTER 10 CHAPTER 2 THE STATES OF MATTER CHAPTER 3 INERTIA AND GRAVITATION 36 CHAPTER 4 THE EQUIVALENCE OF MATTER AND ENERGY 44 CHAPTER 5 OTHER MODERN THEORIES OF MATTER 52 65 68 CONCLUSION GLOSSARY FOR MORE INFORMATION BIBLIOGRAPHY 70 73 INDEX 74
hen dealing with physics the answer to the question What s the matter has to be a resound ing Everything The stars in the night sky rocks found buried deep beneath Earth s sur face all creatures great and small including humans everything and anything you can think of is composed of matter This book takes that rather general statement and adds the details that explain the existence of mat ter its properties and at the risk of stating the obvious why matter matters At the microscopic level matter is made up of atoms molecules and ions Close to 100 different types of atoms the smallest pieces of matter exist in nature Molecules are combinations of atoms while ions are sin gle or grouped atoms that have an electrical charge Clustered in the center of each atom are protons and neutrons around which par ticles called electrons orbit There are three different forms or phases of matter solid liquid and gas Solid matter has a definite size and shape that does not change The volume of liquids is definite but their shape is determined by the container they occupy Gases do not have a definite size
Matter
All matter is composed of atoms that combine in different ways, giving us the many shapes and structures we observe on a daily basis.
About This Book
By: Andrea R. Field
Illustrated by:
Published by: Rosen Publishing provided by Britannica
