what is a matter

Matter is anything that has mass and takes up space (has volume).

Quick Scoop: What is matter?

In science, matter is the “stuff” that makes up all physical things around you.

Your body, air, water, rocks, and even your phone are all made of matter.

Core idea (super short)

• Matter has mass (it can be weighed).

• Matter takes up space (it has volume, it occupies room).

If something can be weighed and takes up space, it counts as matter. Light or heat, for example, do not count as matter because they have no mass and do not occupy space the way objects do.

What is matter made of?

Scientists describe matter as being built in layers:

• Matter is made of molecules and atoms.
• Atoms are made of protons, neutrons, and electrons.

• Protons and neutrons are made of even smaller particles called quarks; electrons belong to a group called leptons.

So the chair you sit on and the air you breathe are both made of unimaginably tiny particles arranged in different ways.

States of matter (the familiar ones)

Matter can appear in different “states” or “phases.” The most familiar are:

• Solids: fixed shape and fixed volume (like ice or a rock).
• Liquids: fixed volume but change shape to fit the container (like water or milk).
• Gases: no fixed shape or volume, spread out to fill any container (like air or steam).

There is also plasma, a very hot, ionized state of matter found in stars and some types of lightning.

One quick example

Think of a simple glass of water:

• The glass itself (solid), the water inside (liquid), and the invisible air above it (gas) are all matter because each has mass and takes up space.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.