Answer:

Matter is anything that has mass and occupies space. A useful way to start thinking about matter is to think about the different materials, or substances, that it can be made into.

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Substances have physical and chemical properties

A selection of images demonstrating various properties of matter.

These materials make up the objects around us, and each of these materials has different properties or characteristics that can be observed or tested. Scientists, technologists and engineers investigate these materials – they experiment with them, compare their properties and relate the results to possible uses.

Types of materials

There are many different types of materials. Some examples of everyday materials are plastics, metals, fabric and glass.

Find out more about plastic products in the article Plastics and recycling.

Find out more about metals and what happens when they mix in the article Metals, alloys and metal compounds.

Ceramic materials are used to make traditional pottery, right through to advanced ceramics used in engineering and medicine. These inventions require scientists to understand the properties of minerals. You can learn more in the article What are minerals?

Wool is another traditional material that has undergone innovation. Investigate the properties of wool and how they link to its uses in the student activity Exploring wool fibre properties.

Some other fascinating, less well known materials include nanofibres, biological materials and composites.

Examples of properties

When we refer to the properties of a material, we are talking about features we can sense, measure or test. For example, if we have a sample of metal in front of us, we can identify that this material is grey, hard and shiny. Testing shows that this material is able to conduct heat and electricity and that it will react with an acid. These are some of the metal’s properties.

Explanation:

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