Question

Which of the following is/are matter?
Chair, air, love, smell, hate, almonds, thought, cold, cold-drink, smell of perfume.

Answer 1

Hint: Matter is everything around us. There are three types of properties for matter-mass, volume, density. Light, sound and heat do not matter since they don’t occupy space.

Complete step by step solution:
Matter is referred to a substance that occupies mass and space. It is different from mind and spirit. Something which we feel or sense is not a matter. All the substances which we can touch are also referred to matter. Matter is composed of atoms. Atoms contain nucleus which consists of electrons, protons and neutrons.
Matter is of three types-solid, liquid and gas. Gaseous phase cannot be touched by us. But it is also a matter.
From the given examples in the question, we can differentiate them into solid, liquid and gaseous phases.
Solid state- chair, almonds.
Liquid state- Cold-drink
Gaseous state- air, smell of perfume.
Others cannot be included in matter. Sense of smell, love, thought, and hate do not matter. It is just a feel. It does not occupy space or mass. But the smell of perfume is included in the matter. This is because it is a gaseous state which contains chemical compounds in it.
Therefore, chair almonds, cold-drink, air, smell of perfume can be included in matter.

Additional information:
Mass of matter describes how much matter is in an object. Volume is the space an object occupies. Density is the amount of mass per unit of volume.

Note:
Solid state is a state of matter which has definite shape or volume. Liquid state has a definite volume but not a definite shape. Gaseous state does not have a definite shape or volume.