Download Matter, Mass, Volume Activity

Matter, Mass, Volume Activity
Matter is an old Greek word for “what everything is made of”. The Greeks hypothesized that any
object could be broken down into a smallest piece of matter. Imagine a rock that you can break
into smaller and smaller pieces. That smallest piece of rock, that if you break it again no longer is
a piece of rock, was considered the smallest piece of matter.
1. Name 6 objects in the room that are made of matter.
2. Now go outside and name 6 objects in the courtyard that are made of matter.
3. What is the smallest piece of matter of each object you named? For example if one of
your objects was a leaf what is the smallest piece of a leaf?
Mass is a word that means how much matter an object is made of. We find the mass of an object
by either weighing it, or measuring how much force it takes to change its state of inertia. For
example a bowling ball requires more force to roll than a ping pong ball. Remember that inertia
is an objects state of motion. Objects are either in motion or not in motion (stationary or at rest).
4. List your 6 named objects in the room from least to most mass.
5. List your 6 named objects outside in the courtyard from least to most mass.
6. How could we find the mass of each object you named inside and outside?
Forces are said to be balanced when the net force on all objects is zero and no motion occurs.
Forces are said to be unbalanced when the net force is greater than zero and motion occurs.
Newton said that, based on balanced or unbalanced forces, there are two states of inertia: moving
or not moving (at rest or stationary).
7. Name 6 objects outside whose state of inertia is not moving. Are the forces balanced
or unbalanced on these objects?
8. Name 6 objects outside whose state of inertia is moving. Are the forces balanced or
unbalanced? For these objects what force is causing the movement (net force)? For
any of your moving objects are their forces that are pushing or pulling opposite the
net force?
Volume is the word to describe how much space an object takes up. We can think of volume as
how much space is inside a box, or soda pop bottle.
9. Name 6 things outside from smallest to largest volume.
10. What is the SI unit of mass? What is a unit of volume? What is the word for
“smallest” piece of matter that we use today?
11. You see a car leave from the stoplight outside as the light turns green and 10 seconds
later it is traveling at 5 m/sec. What is its acceleration? Use the formula below and show
your work.
Acceleration = (Final Speed. – Initial Speed) / Time