LESSON 1

Energy and Matter

Particles in Motion
Key Concept
• What is temperature, and
What do you think? Read the two statements below and decide how is it measured?
whether you agree or disagree with them. Place an A in the Before
column if you agree with the statement or a D if you disagree. After
you’ve read this lesson, reread the statements to see if you have
changed your mind.
Before Statement After
Tiny particles that do not move make up solid
objects.
 he temperature of an object depends on how
T
large the object is.

Mark the Text

How do particles move? Identify Main Ideas 

Highlight each head and
A particle is a small unit of matter. Do you think particles
the details that support it.
move when an object is still? When you finish the lesson,
Movement and Collisions Imagine a rock on the ground. The review the highlighted
rock does not move, but the particles that make up the rock do material to make sure you
understand the main ideas.
move. The particles in matter are in random motion.
Random motion is movement in all directions and at different
Scientific Vocabulary
speeds. Think about adding food coloring to water. The
movement of the water particles pushes the food coloring
matter
Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission is granted to reproduce for classroom use.

(noun) anything that has

particles around. The food coloring spreads out, or diffuses. mass and takes up space

Reading Essentials Energy and Matter  1

THIS MATERIAL IS PROVIDED FOR INDIVIDUAL EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND MAY NOT BE DOWNLOADED OR FURTHER DISTRIBUTED.
 Diffusion is the movement of particles from an area of higher
concentration to an area of lower concentration. The particles
move until there is an equal amount of food coloring all through
the water, as shown in the figure below.

What determines how much energy

RE_P310_101A_NGMSS-BANK particles have?
You know that a rolling ball has energy because it is moving.
Word Origin Particles also move, as shown in the image below, so they must
energy have energy. Recall that energy is the ability to cause change.
from Greek energeia, Think about the relationship between how fast a particle moves
means “activity” and the amount of energy it has.

Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission is granted to reproduce for classroom use.

RE_P310_203A_NGMSS-BANK_A
2  Energy and Matter Reading Essentials
THIS MATERIAL IS PROVIDED FOR INDIVIDUAL EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND MAY NOT BE DOWNLOADED OR FURTHER DISTRIBUTED.
 Movement and Energy Scientists use diffusion to find out
how fast the particles of a substance are moving. The faster the Scientific Vocabulary
particles move, the faster diffusion occurs. When thermal energy thermal
is added to a substance, the motion energy, also called kinetic (adjective) related to heat
energy, of the particles increases.

How to Model Movement Lines can be added to still images

to show motion. The more lines that are drawn, the faster a
particle is moving. Notice the lines on the particles in the image
on the previous page.
The earliest modern accounts of thermodynamics, the study
of heat, were in the 1700s through the early 1800s. James
Prescott Joule was an English physicist who studied
thermodynamics and particles. His ideas on particle motion
have stood the test of time. The unit of energy used in science is
named the Joule.

What happens to a liquid when kinetic

energy changes?
There is no way to see how fast particles are moving. Is how
hot or cold something feels a way to measure how much energy
the substance has?
Scientific Vocabulary
Energy and Volume As the kinetic energy of a material volume
increases, particles begin to move faster. Also, as the average (noun) the amount of
kinetic energy of the particles increases, they spread out. The space something fills
increase in a material’s volume when particle motion increases
is known as thermal expansion. As the particles that make a
substance lose kinetic energy, they slow down and move closer
together. The particles take up less space. This is known as Academic Vocabulary
thermal contraction. Thermal contraction happens when contract
particle motion decreases and causes the particles to occupy (verb) to become smaller
Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission is granted to reproduce for classroom use.

less volume.
Scientific Vocabulary
Energy and Temperature The properties of liquid expansion property
and contraction can be used to measure temperature. (noun) a quality or feature
Temperature is the measure of the average kinetic energy of the of something
particles in a material. The lower the kinetic energy of the
particles, the lower the temperature of the substance.
Energy, volume, and temperature are all related. When the
temperature decreases, the particles slow down, which causes
them to take up less space. Lower temperatures mean less
kinetic energy and a smaller volume. If temperature increases,
the particles move faster, and take up more space. Higher
temperatures mean more kinetic energy and a greater volume.

Reading Essentials Energy and Matter  3

THIS MATERIAL IS PROVIDED FOR INDIVIDUAL EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND MAY NOT BE DOWNLOADED OR FURTHER DISTRIBUTED.
 Word Origin Temperature Scales In a weather report, the temperature
temperature might be given in degrees Fahrenheit and degrees Celsius, like
from Latin temperatura, shown in the figure. On the Fahrenheit scale, water freezes at
means “moderating,
32° and boils at 212°. On the Celsius scale, water freezes at 0°
tempering”
and boils at 100°. The Celsius scale is used by scientists
worldwide. Scientists also use the Kelvin scale. On the Kelvin
scale, water freezes at 273 K and boils at 373 K. The lowest
possible temperature for any material is 0 K. This is known as
absolute zero. If a material were at 0 K, the particles in that
material would not be moving and would no longer have kinetic
energy. Scientists have not been able to cool any material to 0 K.

50
120

40
308 100

30
80

20 293
60

10 283

40
0 273

20
-10

0
-20

Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission is granted to reproduce for classroom use.

°C K °F

RE_P310_103A_NGMSS-BANK

4  Energy and Matter Reading Essentials

THIS MATERIAL IS PROVIDED FOR INDIVIDUAL EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND MAY NOT BE DOWNLOADED OR FURTHER DISTRIBUTED.
 How do the particles in a gas behave
compared to particles in a liquid?
Think about a time you smelled what was for lunch even
though you were not near the cafeteria. The whole school did
not smell the lunch at the same time. The people close to the
cafeteria smelled it first. You could smell lunch because gas
particles move, as shown in the figure below. The particles move Scientific Vocabulary
in straight lines until they collide with something. collide
(verb) to come together
with direct impact

Pizza Aroma Particles

Gas Particles In gases, particles move at high speeds. They Academic Vocabulary
have high amounts of kinetic energy. Gases can expand and expand
contract. Being ableRE_P310_106A_NGMSS-BANK
to smell food over a distance is evidence for (verb) to spread out
the movement of gas particles.

What evidence is there that particles

in a solid move?
Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission is granted to reproduce for classroom use.

Solids have a definite shape. They are not liquids or gases.

The particles of a solid do not flow past each other. Do you
think the particles of a solid move?

Reading Essentials Energy and Matter  5

THIS MATERIAL IS PROVIDED FOR INDIVIDUAL EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND MAY NOT BE DOWNLOADED OR FURTHER DISTRIBUTED.
 Solid Particles The particles of a solid cannot move as much as
the particles in liquids and gases. In a solid, the particles vibrate
Scientific Vocabulary back and forth in place, as shown in the figure below. Particles
energy of a solid have low amounts of kinetic energy. Expansion and
(noun) the ability to cause contraction do occur in solids, but it is hard to see because the
change particles hold each other in place.

How does the total amount of a

substanceRE_P310_206A_NGMSS-BANK
affect its energy?
Particles have kinetic energy due to motion. Kinetic energy
can be measured by comparing temperatures of substances.
Kinetic energy is just one part of the total energy that a
substance contains.
Energy and Mass Two substances at the same temperature
have the same average kinetic energy of their particles. When
one substances has more particles, that substance has more
energy. Think about two samples of water at the same

Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission is granted to reproduce for classroom use.

temperature. The sample with more mass will contain more total
energy.

Reread the statements at the beginning of the lesson. Fill in

the After column with an A if you agree with the statement or a
D if you disagree. Did you change your mind?

6  Energy and Matter Reading Essentials

THIS MATERIAL IS PROVIDED FOR INDIVIDUAL EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND MAY NOT BE DOWNLOADED OR FURTHER DISTRIBUTED.