Term | Definition |
Matter | Everything that has mass and takes up space |
Elements | The ingredients that make up all other substances. Can't be broken down into other substances. |
Metals | Good conductors of electricity and heat. Can bendwithout breaking. Most have a gray color |
Nonmetals | Do not conduct heat / electricity very well. May
be a gas or a solid |
Semimetals | Sometimes like metals and sometimes like
nonmetals |
Atom | The smallest part of an element that still acts like
that element |
Atomic Theory | States that everything is made of atoms |
Compound | A type of matter made of two or more elements |
Molecule | Smallest particle of a compound that still acts like
that compound |
Proton | Positive charge. Found in the nucleus |
Neutron | No charge. Found in the nucleus |
Electron | Negative charge. Orbits the nucleus |
Solid | Has a definite volume or shape. Particles are very close together,
and don’t move past each other. Keeps its shape. |
Liquid | Has a definite volume but not shape. Particles can move past each other. Takes shape of container |
Gas | No definite volume or shape. Particles spread out evenly and take
shape of container. Can be squeezed into a smaller volume |
Plasma | Like a gas, but conducts electricity like a metal. Occurs with high
temps or electric charge |
Melting Point | Solid to liquid or liquid to solid. Same temperature as freezing point. |
Evaporation | When liquids become a gas |
Condensation | When gas becomes a liquid. Gas particles touch a cold surface and the temperature drops. |
Boiling Point | The temperature at which evaporation occurs |