Week 6 - Physical Properties of Matter Flashcards
Both of these people are participating in a board sport, but the man on the left is snowboarding in Norway while
the woman on the right is sandboarding in Dubai. Snow and sand are both kinds of matter, but they have different
properties. What are some ways snow and sand differ? One difference is the temperature at which they melt. Snow
melts at 0C, whereas sand melts at about 1600C! The temperature at which something melts is its melting point.
Melting point is just one of many physical properties of matter.
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r are properties that can be measured or observed without matter changing to an entirely
different substance
Physical Properties
are typically things you can detect with your senses. For example, they may
be things that you can see, hear, smell, or feel.
Physical Properties
What differences between snow and sand can you detect with your senses?
You can see that snow and sand have a different color. You can also feel that snow is softer than sand. Both color
and hardness are physical properties of matter.
In addition to these properties, other physical properties of matter include the state of matter. States of matter include
liquid, solid, and gaseous states. For example at 20C, coal exists as a solid and water exists as a liquid. Additional
examples of physical properties include:
- odor
- boiling point
- ability to conduct heat
- ability to conduct electricity
- ability to dissolve in other substances
Q: The coolant that is added to a car radiator also has a lower freezing point than water. Why is this physical property
useful?
A: When coolant is added to water in a car radiator, it lowers the freezing point of the water. This prevents the water
in the radiator from freezing when the temperature drops below 0C, which is the freezing point of pure water.
Q: Besides being able to conduct electricity, what other physical property of copper makes it well suited for electric
wires?
A: Copper, like other metals, is ductile. This means that it can be rolled and stretched into long thin shapes such as
wires.
This teakettle is made of aluminum except
for its handle, which is made of plastic.
Aluminum is a good conductor of heat.
It conducts heat from the flames on the
range to the water inside the kettle, so the
water heats quickly. Plastic, on the other
hand, is not a good conductor of heat. It
stays cool enough to touch even when the
rest of the teakettle becomes very hot.
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Coolant is added to the water in a car
radiator to keep the water from boiling and
evaporating. Coolant has a higher boiling
point than water and adding it to the water
increases the boiling point of the solution.
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The strong smell of swimming pool water
is the odor of chlorine, which is added to
the water to kill germs and algae. In contrast, bottled spring water, which contains
no chlorine, does not have an odor.
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are properties that can be measured or observed without matter changing to an
entirely different substance
physical preoperties
are typically things you can detect with your senses
physical properties
Examples of physical properties of matter include melting point, color, hardness, state of matter, odor, and
boiling point.
read
Copper is a good conductor of electricity.
That’s why electric wires are often made
of copper. They are covered with a protective coating of plastic, which does not
conduct electricity
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