Introduction

Everything in our surroundings are known as matter. They may be the food we eat, the vehicles, the gadgets, the day to day materials that we use, the air we breathe or the water that we drink. All of these things occupy some space and have mass and volume. For instance, in classrooms the benches that the students use to sit occupy some space of the classroom. They have mass and volume and hence they can be regarded as matter.

According to the Indian philosophers matter can classified into five primitive elements. They are also known as Pancha Tatva– air, soil, fire, and water. Every living or non-living is made up these five primitive elements.

Liquid State

• A liquid has no definite shape and takes up the shape of the container in which it is kept.
• A liquid has a definite volume due to weaker intermolecular force of attraction than solids.
• They can flow from a higher lever to a lower level.
• A liquid is compressible due to larger distance between the neighbouring molecules than solid but lesser than gas.
• They have lower density.
• A liquid can diffuse into another liquid due to fact that molecules move faster in a liquid but is slower as compared to gases.

Gaseous State

• They do not have definite shape and take up the shape of the container.
• They do not possess definite volume due to weakest intermolecular forces.
• They are not rigid.
• They are easily compressible due to excess space between the particles of gas which compresses on applying pressure.
• They can easily undergo diffusion due to the fact that molecules in a gas move at a very fast rate due to which speed of diffusion is very large.
• They can flow in all possible directions.