Page 308 - (DK) The Ultimate Visual Dictionary 2nd Ed.

PHYSICS AND CHEMISTR Y
The variety of matter

TYPES OF COLLOID
MATTER IS ANYTHING THAT HAS A MASS. It includes everything
from natural substances, such as minerals or living organisms,
to synthetic materials. Matter can exist in three distinct states—
solid, liquid, and gas. A solid is rigid and retains its shape. A
liquid is fluid, has a definite volume, and will take the shape
of its container. A gas (also fluid) fills a space, so its volume
will be the same as the volume of its container. Most
PLANT AND INSECT
(LIVING MATTER) substances can exist as a solid, a liquid, or a gas: the state
is determined by temperature. At very high temperatures, matter becomes
plasma, often considered to be a fourth state of matter. All matter is composed
of microscopic particles, such as atoms and molecules (see pp. 308-309).
HAIR GEL (SOLID IN LIQUID)
The arrangement and interactions of these particles give a substance
its physical and chemical properties, by which matter can be
identified. There is a huge variety of matter because particles
can arrange themselves in countless ways, in one substance or
by mixing with others. Natural glass, for example, seems to be
a solid but is, in fact, a supercool liquid: the atoms are not
locked into a pattern and can flow. Pure substances known as
elements (see p. 310) combine to form compounds or mixtures.
Mixtures called colloids are made up of larger particles of
matter suspended in a solid, liquid, or gas, while a solution is SHAVING CREAM MIST
(AIR IN LIQUID) (LIQUID IN GAS)
one substance dissolved in another.
EXAMPLES OF MATTER
The element Low Streaks of plasma
silicon in pure pressure (mixture of electrons
crystalline gases and charged atoms)
form
Voltage tears electrons
Poly- from atoms of low
ethylene pressure gases inside
combines
natural
materials
in new Central
ways electrode

POLYETHYLENE PURE SILICON BALL CONTAINING
(SYNTHETIC POLYMER ) (SEMICONDUCTOR) HIGH-TEMPERATURE GAS
(PLASMA)
Obsidian is molten volcanic Solid crystals
rock that cools quickly, dissolve in
so atoms cannot form liquid water
a regular pattern
Water
Potassium
permanganate
crystals

Azurite is found
naturally with
deposits of copper ore
OBSIDIAN AZURITE POTASSIUM PERMANGANATE AND WATER
(NATURAL GLASS) (CRYSTALLINE MINERAL) (SOLUTION)

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