Question

What are the characteristics of the particles of matter?

Answer 1

Hint: Matter is that which has some mass and occupies some volume and consists of a large number of particles and sub-particles such as atoms, electrons , protons , neutrons etc. We can characterize the particles of matter on the basis of their size, their force of attraction , their moving motion etc.

Complete step by step answer:
First of all , let’s discuss what matters. By the term matter , we simply mean something which has some mass and occupies space i.e. the volume. Matter is made up of a large number of divisible particles ( i.e. which can be divided) known as the atoms and atoms also consist of a large number of charged particles in it. i.e. electrons( negatively charged), protons(positively charged) and neutrons( neutral particles i.e. neither carry positive nor negative charge).

The characteristics properties of the particles of matter as follows:
The particles of matter i.e. the atoms, electrons, protons and neutrons are so small that they cannot be seen with the naked eyes.
The particles of matter have small voids i. e. spaces in between them and this can be explained as; take a glass full of water and add one full teaspoon of sugar into and mix it properly, you will observe that the water is clear as the particles of sugar occupy the interparticle spaces between the water molecules and we can add more sugar and the sugar will dissolve into it till all the spaces between the water molecules are filled.
The particles of the matter are continuously moving because they possess kinetic energy and as the temperature increases, kinetic energy of particles also increases and hence, the particles move faster.
The particles of matter possess intermolecular force of attraction between them and hence attract each other.

Note: The intermolecular force of attraction is more in solids than in the liquids and minimum in the gases. It is so because the particles of solid are closely packed and thus, have greater force of attraction than the liquids and gases. On the other hand, gases have higher kinetic energy than the solids and liquids because its particles can freely move in comparison to solids and liquids.