Which of the following matters? Chair, air, love, smell, hate, almonds, thought, cold, lemon water, smell of perfume.

-Pooja Sharma, Subject Matter Expert at Edumarz

Solution:

Matter is any substance which has mass and volume or substance which occupies some space in the universe. 

Types: There are four types of matter: Solid, Liquid, Gases and Plasma

1. 1. Solids are the ones whose molecules or atoms are very close,they are tightly held together and have fixed shape.
   2. Liquid are the ones whose molecules are less tightly held than solids and do not have fixed shape but take the shape of the container they are in.
   3. Gases are the ones whose molecules are more loosely held than both solids and liquids and do not have fixed shape.

• Plasma is a gas with charged particles either positive or negative obtained when a gas is heated to such an extent that electrons are taken out of atoms of gaseous matter.

For example: 

Chair(Solid), Almonds(Solid), Air(Gas) and Lemon water(Liquid) have mass and volume or occupy space.

Whereas Love, Hate, Thought and cold are feelings which are only felt by skin or experienced by the brain but do not occupy space or do not have any mass or volume.

Note: Smell of perfume is considered as matter because of dispersing tiny droplets of perfume( in gaseous state) in air in the form of gas

occupying space in air which reaches our olfactory senses even in low very amount/Concentration.

So it is not necessary that “all that we can touch is matter or all that we cannot is not matter”.