What is matter in classical physics and general chemistry?
Matter is any substance that has mass and takes up space by having volume. All everyday objects are ultimately composed of atoms, which are made up of interacting subatomic particles.
Questions about Matter
Short answers, pulled from the story.
Which state of hydrogen is the most abundant ordinary matter in the universe?
Hydrogen in its plasma state is the most abundant ordinary matter in the universe. This form exists alongside other states such as solid, liquid, gas, Bose-Einstein condensates, and quark-gluon plasma.
Who were the early philosophers who proposed the particulate theory of matter?
Early philosophers who proposed the particulate theory of matter include the Indian philosopher Kañada and the pre-Socratic Greek philosophers Leucippus and Democritus. Ancient traditions also included Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Heraclitus, Empedocles, Parmenides, and Democritus.
How much of the visible universe is made of baryonic matter according to WMAP data?
Microwave light seen by Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe suggests that only about 4.6% of the universe within range of best telescopes is made of baryonic matter. About 26.8% is dark matter and about 68.3% is dark energy.
What happens when a particle and its antiparticle come into contact with each other?
If a particle and its antiparticle come into contact they annihilate and convert into other particles with equal energy in accordance with Albert Einstein's equation E=mc^2. These new particles may be high-energy photons gamma rays or other particle antiparticle pairs.