What
is Matter?
In this
introductory lesson, students examine landscape scences and brainstorm all of
the materials they might find there.
They sort and identify the materials as solids, liquid, or gas, and they
think about how to define matter.
Our class definition for MATTER:
Anything that takes up space and
has weight.
Discovering
the Properties of Matter
Students
compare an assortment of solids, liquids, and gases. They examine balloons filled with different materials, and
write down descriptive words or phrases.
Next, they open the balloons, explore the substances with a variety of
tools, and record further observations and comparisons between the
substances. Finally, they list the
properties of solids, liquids, and gases.
What
did we discover? What were
in the balloons!?
Here’s what
they found in the balloons: flour,
rice, water, air, dish soap, carbon dioxide. Here are some things they guessed were in the balloons:
gravel, shampoo, lotion, stones, helium
Vocabulary: material, matter, gas, investigation,
investigative question, liquid, observation, observe, powder, procedure,
property, solid, state
You can do a
cool experiment at home! Here’s
how:
1. Place the stem of the funnel in the
neck of the balloon. Hold the stem
between your fingers, and fill the balloon with about 3 tbsp of baking soda.
2. Use the funnel to pour 4 tbsp of
vinegar into the soda bottle.
3. Stretch the neck of the balloon over
the bottle without letting the baking soda fall inside. Make sure the balloon is firmly
attached to the bottle before taking the next step.
4. Invert the balloon over the opening and
empty all the baking soda inside.
5. Wait a few moments while the baking
soda and vinegar react. Make sure
the balloon has no baking soda left in it.
6. When the balloon stops expanding,
carefully remove it from the bottle. 7.
Knot the neck of the balloon.
