All Matter Is Made Of Particles

General Chemistry Index

Where are we going with this? The point of this deck is to provide concepts,background information and examples related to the kinetic theory of matter. Using this model will help predict behaviors of substances within a variety of environments and help quantify 

Kinetic Theory of Matter: All matter is made up of particles.

Back to the properties of matter, particularly, the types of matter… 

Matter can be classified into pure substances (elements and compounds) or mixtures (impure substances). Recall that a mixture is made of of two or more pure substances, so we can reduce our discussion of kinetic theory to pure substances (compounds and elements).

Because, within the mixture, you could isolate any of the pure substances and focus on that.

When you think about matter, it takes a little abstract thinking to zoom in all the way to the particle level. Suppose you are looking at a chunk of silicon. Naturally, you see the… chunk. 

To think about what the chunk is made of takes a little abstract thinking. You have remember that silicon is an element, a pure substance. Then you have to imagine the atoms of the element somehow grouping up to form the silicon.

Likewise, thinking about a compound, you have to let your imagination take you down to the molecular level; all you can see with your eyes is the "chunk."

Many materials form crystals in which each atom is uniformly positioned in a set, fixed arrangement. 

Other situations find particles of a substance in a mixture with water (e.g. a salt and water solution). You have to imagine some number salt molecules scattered among the water molecules (two compounds, by the way).

The point is, to get your head around kinetic theory, you need to let your thoughts grow to include the idea of particles of matter–atoms and molecules.

https://www.google.com/search?q=crystal+lattice+structure (2020-07-29)