Download Chemical Building Blocks Chapter One

Science Explorer- Chemical Building Blocks
Chapter One- An Introduction to Matter
Section One
Matter: anything that has mass and occupies space (pg. 14)
Characteristic Property: a quality of a substance that never changes and can be used to
identify the substances (pg. 15)
Boiling Point: the temperature at which a substance changes from a liquid to a gas (pg. 16)
Physical Change: a change in a substance that does not change its identity; for example, a
change of state (pg. 17)
Chemical Change: a change in which one or more substances combine or break apart to form
new substances (pg. 17)
Chemical Activity: a characteristic property of a substance that indicates its ability to
undergo a specific chemical change (pg. 17)
Mixture: two or more substances that are mixed together but not chemically combined (pg.
18)
Pure Substance: a substance made of only one kind of matter and having definite properties
(pg. 19)
Element: a substance that cannot be broken down into other substances by chemical or
physical means (pg. 19)
Compound: a substance made of two or more elements chemically combined (pg. 21)
Section Two
Weight: a measure of the force of gravity on an object (pg. 23)
Mass: a measure of how much matter is in an object (pg. 14)
International System of Units (SI): the system of units used by scientists to measure the
properties of matter (pg. 23)
Volume: the amount of space that matter occupies (pg. 23)
Density: the measurement of how much mass of a substance is contained in a given volume
(pg. 26)
Section Three
Atom: the smallest particle of an element (pg. 30)
Molecule: a combination of two or more atoms (pg. 32)
Chemical Bond: the force that holds two atoms together (pg. 32)
Section Four
Ore: a rock that contains a metal or other economically useful element (pg. 35)
Electrolysis: a process by which an electric current breaks chemical bonds (pg. 36)
Electrode: a metal strip that conducts electricity; often used in an electrolysis process (pg. 36)