SOME PHYSICS ….

MATTER, MASS, VOLUME & DENSITY

Using water – amazing! – to lead us into some physics

We have been talking about how
the volume of water increases as
you heat it. Neat! Also a nice route
to take us into some physics.

Let’s go there!
We will find out what we mean when we
use these terms:
MATTER
MASS
VOLUME
DENSITY
VOLUME is the amount of space
which ‘something’ occupies – how
much space a mass occupies.

The volume of the Atlantic Ocean is

310,410,900 km3
MASS is the amount of matter (“stuff!”)
inside an object.

The mass of the Atlantic Ocean is

310,410,900 kg. (This is because water
has a density of 1)
MATTER – anything that has mass and
takes up space!
DENSITY is the mass per unit volume of
some matter.
d = M/V
(grams of matter contained in 1 cm3 or 1ml)

Pure water has a density of 1. (1 gram of

water occupies a volume of 1 cm3 or 1ml)
What happens to the volume of water
as it is heated?
Specific volume is defined
as the number of cubic
meters occupied by one
kilogram of a particular
substance. The standard
unit is the cubic metre per
kilogram (m3/kg) or more
commonly also given as
cubic centimetre per gram
(cm3/g)
If volume increases, what must happen
to the density of water as it is heated?
Why does the volume of water increase
as it is heated?
An increase in temperature
causes the water molecules
to gain kinetic energy and
move more rapidly, which
results in water molecules
that are further apart and
so an increase in water
volume.