Nature of Matter and States of Matter

Diffusion and osmosis are possibly because of the nature of matter. We can define matter as anything that had mass and occupies space. It includes all the living and non living things around us.

   Matter is made up of tiny particles which may be molecules and ions. These particles are moving all the time. Matter can exist in three states : as solid, a liquid and a gas.

    In a solid, the particles are closely packed with very little specs between them. The forces of attraction between the particles are strong so that they cannot move but  they are still attracted to one another so that their movement are within a given space. In a gas, the particles move very fast. They are widely separated from another and there is very little attraction between them. Thus, the basic different between them the three states of matter is the degree of movement of their particles.

   Any substance can exist as a solid, a liquid or a gas under the appropriate condition of temperature and pressure. A familiar example of such a substance is water. At normal pressure (,760 mmHg) , pure water exists as solid ice, below 0°C. On heating, the molecules in ice vibrate faster and break away from their fixed positions to move about, I.e. ice melts to form liquid water. Water exists as a liquid between 0°C and 100°C. On further heating, the molecules in water move about even faster, collide with one another, and eventually escape from the liquid to form water vapour (gas). We can reverse the above process by Colling water vapour