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The Nature of Things - Introduction to Physics Survey | PHYS 1030, Study notes of Physics

Material Type: Notes; Professor: Espino; Class: Intro Physics Surv; Subject: Physics (PHYS); University: East Tennessee State University; Term: Unknown 1989;

Typology: Study notes

Pre 2010

Uploaded on 08/13/2009

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Chapter 2
The nature of things
The Greeks thought about the nature of matter.
Matter can be described as the substance of
which physical materials are composed of.
Examples of material substances such as wood,
ice water, sausage, gold…
All of these are composed of matter.
What do different types of substances have in
common with each other?
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Chapter 2

The nature of things

The Greeks thought about the nature of matter.

Matter can be described as the substance of

which physical materials are composed of.

Examples of material substances such as wood,

ice water, sausage, gold…

All of these are composed of matter.

What do different types of substances have in

common with each other?

One idea is that all matter can be divided up

into smaller pieces. Do this enough and

eventually you would get to pieces so small

they are no divisible.

The Greeks called these particles: atoms.

It turns out that each element is made up one

only one kind of atom. Different elements

have different types of atoms. Hydrogen is

made of hydrogen atoms, gold is made of gold

atoms…

An atom is defined as the smallest particles of

a chemical element.

Each type of atoms is characterized by what is

called the atomic number for that element.

Water

Water is made up of hydrogen and oxygen, so

water cannot be an element.

Substances made up of more than one element

are called chemical compounds.

Water H 2 O

Salt NaCl

Chemical compounds can be split up into smaller

and smaller pieces. The smallest particles of a

compound that still retains the properties of the

compound is called a molecule.

Macroscopic – phenomena that can be easily

observed. Occurs on a ‘large’ scale. Temperature is macroscopic. When you smell something, a macroscopic observation occurs.

Microscopic – occurs on a very small scale. An

unseen level for humans. The speed of the individual atoms that results in the given temperature is microscopic. The atoms that produce the smell can be studied microscopically.

States of matter

solid – has fixed shape, fixed volume, molecules are close to together and locked in fixed arrangement, hardest to compress

liquid – has fixed volume, does not have a fixed shape. Think about pouring water into different shaped cups. Molecules are close to together but not rigidly fixed to each other, hard to compress

gas – no fixed shape, no fixed volume (gas expands to fill the container it is in), molecules are relatively far away. Gases can be compressed.

Section on making estimates

It can be useful to learn how to make wise

estimates to find an approximate answer to

many questions.

This is useful when no calculator is handy or

you really don’t care about the exact amount.

Estimations and order of magnitude calculations

Estimate the number of people needed to make

‘human chain’ across Tennessee.

TN is about 500 miles long

1 mile about 1.6 km

So TN is about 800 km long.

Reach of a person is about 1 meter.

800km is 800*1000 meters.

You would need about 800 000 people.

Chemical reaction

Any rearrangement of molecules to produce different molecules is called a chemical reaction.

example: burning, respiration, photosynthesis

Conservation of matter- during any chemical reaction,

the total number of each type of atoms must stay constant.

C O 2 CO 2

example: burning methane gas

In this reaction the number of each atom types is

not balanced.

Chemical reactions need to be balanced, that way

the conservation of matter rule is held true.

Now the are equal numbers of each type of atom

on both sides of the equation.

CH 4 O 2 CO 2 H 2 O

CH 4 2 O 2 CO 2 2 H 2 O