Variety of Matter

MATTERS IS ANYTHING THAT OCCUPIES SPACE. 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 a 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 substances can exist as a solid, a liquid, or a gas: the state is determined by temparature. At very high temparatures, matter become plasma, often considered to be a fourth state of matter. All matter is composed of microscopic particles, such as atomes and molecules. The arragement and interactions of these particles give a substance its physical and chemical properties, by which matter can be identified. There is a huge4 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 combine to from compounds or mixtures. Mixtures called colloids are made made up of larger particles of matter suspended in a solid, liquid, or gas, while a solution is one substance dissolved in another.