Matter and Properties

Students are introduced to matter by investigating the properties of bouncy balls they make. Students then conduct an experiment with their bouncy balls to explore how temperature can affect the properties of materials. 

• Science is the search for explanations about the world around them, and scientists ask questions that will help guide them toward answers.  
• Scientists follow a process as they conduct experiments, which helps guide scientists as they move from a question to a data-based conclusion.
• A property is an observable or measurable characteristic of matter, and all matter can be described according to its properties. Matter is everything that is made up of atoms and takes up space, and it includes all of the solids, liquids, and gasses around us.
• We can tell whether something is a solid, a liquid, or a gas because each has specific properties that can be used to identify it. 

• Why is it important that scientists ask questions?
• Why are data an important part of experiments? How is an answer that uses data different from an answer based on opinion?
• Why is it helpful to follow a scientific process to answer questions?
• How can a specific object in the classroom be described by its properties? Or how would you compare objects in the visual according to the property highlighted?
• Why is it important to be able to identify an object’s properties?
• How is water from a faucet similar to glue? How is water from a faucet different from glue?  
• How would the shape of a solid (such as an apple) change if you put it into a bowl or a box? What would cause the shape of the apple to change?
• Why is air an example of matter? 

Absorbency :  the ability of a solid material to soak up a liquid

Flexibility:  the ability of a solid material to bend easily without breaking

Gas: matter that has no shape and spreads out, completely filling its container

Hardness: the ability of a solid material to keep its shape when an outside force is applied

Liquid:  matter that takes the shape of its container but has no shape of its own

Material:  any kind of matter that makes up objects

Matter:  everything that is made up of atoms and takes up space; includes all of the solids, liquids, and gasses around us

Property: an observable or measurable characteristic of matter

Science:  all knowledge learned from experiments

Solid: matter that holds its own shape until something changes it by force

Temperature: a measure of heat

Texture: – the way a material or object feels

Students conduct an experiment to see how cooling their bouncy ball in a freezer changes the properties of the ball, affecting how high the ball can bounce. They use their data to construct an argument about the difference between reversible and irreversible changes to matter. Students are also introduced to cause-and- effect relationships as they investigate how the height that their ball can bounce is affected by its temperature.