What is Matter?

Matter in science is everything that surrounds us. The ground beneath your feet, the air around you, the planets revolving around the sun, the meteors shooting past in the night, and the stars in the sky are made of matter. When we divide matter into smaller segments we get particles called atoms. These atoms joined together in multiple different ways to form a variety of different substances called molecules. Matter and its properties are fascinating and bring curiosity with its varied properties to science kids and adults. 

Let’s discover the journey of matter

The knowledge we know today about matters is due to the persistent research, experimentation, and questions.

The Greek philosophers were among the first people to classify matter. They also logically explained the behavior of matter and substances in different sets of conditions. The work of identifying the composition of matter belongs to the prehistoric ancestors and Vedic period. With more scientific advancement and better scientific experiments, the mystery of matter get unfolded. This resulted in the discoveries made for many newer elements.

During the Industrial Revolution many new inventions had led to new synthetic materials by using these primary elements like steel, alloys, and carbon fibers etc. With a better understanding of the atomic structure, new drugs were made and this resulted in the advancement of the medical industry. To this day also, new substances with specific properties are still being searched for bringing more advantage to science.

The journey to discover Matter in science can be broadly divided into;

1. Prehistoric
2. Middle Ages
3. 17th Century
4. 19th Century
5. Modern Times

Let’s now uncover what happened in each stages of the history

1. In the Prehistoric period around before 500 BC

• • Prehistory to Antiquity: Survival was the sole aim of a nomadic man during the prehistoric times. Though the ancestral man was full of curiosity but had limited knowledge to get the answers for curious questions. They learned to use the stones and bones of animals as tools for hunting and defense.
  • Making Fire: In the early 790000 BC they learned to make fire using combustion. However they do not know why the fire exists. They learned that dry wooden pieces can only catch fire easily. It is to note that they keep the fire alive for most of the time as it is difficult to regenerate fire once it stops.
  • Copper & Bronze Age: During 3200 BC the human civilization developed the art of smelting of copper by extracting it from its ore through heat. They also found the method to produce Bronze by smelting copper with tin. These led to the development of metal weapons and tools for better utilization in war and other areas. Well known Greek philosophers ‘Empedocles‘ suggests that matter is made up four basic elements. These are Air, Earth, Fire and Water. To add in to this statement, Democritus suggests that all the matter is made up of tiny particles called Atoms. 

2. Middle Ages Science

• • Middle Ages Period: In parts of Asia and the Islamic regions, many alchemists were engaged in conducting experiments. The aim of these experiments were to discover gold. European alchemist too were engaged in the same attempts. 
  • Discovery of Gunpowder: It is surprising to note that in the attempt to discover the process of making gold, alchemist of China accidentally invented the gunpowder by mixing saltpetre (a form of nitrate) with sulfur and charcoal. 
  • Classification of Elements: During the 900 AD a very well known physician named ‘Abu Bakr al-Razi’ classified elements into spirits, metals, and minerals depending on the way they react with heat. 
  • Salts, Mercuries and Sulfurs: Theophrastus von Hohenheim, Swiss chemist made the first logical attempts to classify chemicals into three broad categories as Salts, Mercuries, and Sulfurs.

3. Science 17th Century Period: 

• • Renaissance: With rapid discoveries of materials and knowledge of chemical properties of matter, scientists began to test, and conduct experiments, documented ideas and also published their ideas and finding. They worked hard to prepare a better classification of matter.
  • Discovery of Oxygen (O2): This was discovered by Swedish chemist Carl Scheele when he made a contraption to capture oxygen by heating various compounds together. Also, Josheph Priestley, a famous English scientist discovered that oxygen is a gas. It supports the burning of fire through his experiment. His experiments illustrated that a candle can’t burn without oxygen. 
  • Elements of Chemistry: The famous French chemist Antoine Lavoisier publishes the Elements of chemistry. This book uncovers the lists of 33 known elements categorized into four different kinds as Gases, Metals, Non-Metals and Earths. 

4. Science in 19th Century Period: 

• • The period of Industrial Revolution: Development of industrial division given rise to discovery of more elements and invention of better medicine and better industrial technologies. 
  • Atomic Theory of Dalton: English chemist John Dalton gave the atomic theory where he compiled a list of elements based on the atomic weight. He proposed that all the matter is composed of atoms and atoms of same elements are identical in their physical and chemical properties. 
  • Water forms: During the 1803 AD French chemist Joseph Louis Gay Lussac done an experiments. In the experiment he found out that gasses exert pressure and water is made up of two parts Hydrogen and one part Oxygen to form H2O water molecules. Gay Lussac experimented with air pressure in a hot air balloon to prove his statement.
  • Periodic Table of Elements: During  year 1869 Dimitri Mendeleev‘s a Russian chemist made an arrangement of grouping elements into its properties and atomic mass. At that time 59 elements were discovered. This gave rise to a newer understanding of the elements and the in famous Periodic Table as we know today in chemistry. 

5. Science in the 19th Century World: 

• • The discovery of Synthetic materials: In the early 19th century (from year 1870 to 1890) human kind have developed the methods for creating synthetic materials. The first synthetic materials made from cellulose were celluloid (mouldable plastic). Some examples of it are viscose rayon. 
  • The Atomic Age: In this era marked a great journey for mankind. The discovery of radioactive properties of some elements brought new windows. In the same period, JJ Thomson an English scientist discovered the electrons. He found electrons flowing inside the Cathode Ray Tube during his experiments. It brought a better understanding of composition of elements, atoms and subatomic particles like electron, proton etc.  This knowledge was helpful in advancement of medicine and healthcare. This advancement brought better treatment to many non-curable diseases at that time. 
  • Radium: Polish scientist Marie Curie and her husband Pierre Curie, in an experiment with radioactive elements discovered Radium and Polonium in the year 1898. This were later used in radiotherapy to treat cancer. 
  • Invention of pH scale:  During the year 1909 Danish Chemist Soren Peder Lauritz Sorensen invented a method to measure the level of acidity, alkalinity or neutrality in any liquid or substance. This scale is known as pH scale and is widely used in science experiments and day to day living.
  • Electron Shell: During the year 1913, Danish scientist Neils Bohr presented the atomic model to the world. Here he illustrated how the electrons occupy the space in the atom in shells and how they orbit around the nucleus of the atom. 

6. Times of Modern Science: 

• • New Age Chemistry: Year 1945 marks the beginning of modern age science and advancement of modern chemistry. With the use of nanotechnology, modern days scientist with sophisticated equipment were able to discover newer elements and materials through structured arrangement of atoms and molecules. 
  • Spike in Carbon Dioxide: With industrial revolution, mass scale production of metals, steel, and thermal power plants have brought focus of scientist towards the rapid increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This has resulted in global warming and rise in average day temperature. This increase of CO2 gave rise to a phenomenon called as Greenhouse effect. American scientist Charles David Keeling started to monitor the rise of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere. He brought the famous Keeling Curve graph in the year 1958, which is still being used to study climate change. 
  • Discovery of Buckyball: During the year 1985, a newer of form of carbon was discovered by the scientist of Rice University, Huston, USA, led by Professor Harold Kroto in his experiment of evaporating carbon by laser. This is also called as Buckminsterfullerene. It is a spherical arrangement of carbon molecules resembling like a soccer ball. Buckyball is a black substance that dissolves in hydrocarbon solvent to produce a violent solution. 
  • World’s thinnest material – Graphene: In the year 2004, Graphene was produced. This is sheet of carbon atoms just one atom thick and it is the world’s thinnest material but 200 times stronger than steel. The carbon atoms are arranged in honeycomb structure an is made up of allotrope of carbon. This has many hi-tech applications in the field of carbon Nano fiber, computer science, and Nano-technology.

Conclusion:

With this we come to our fascinating journey of the discovery of matter. Matter is present everywhere around us. This is the basic ingredient of mass and physical existence of any substance. Every element comes with a unique physical and chemical properties.  There is also association among atoms with each other to form various types of compound is the reason behind so much diverseness in the nature. There is no limit to the number of various permutation and combination and different properties. There is infinite possibilities present in the nature and science with the study of matter. In our next journey we we look into the different variety and property of matter.