Judy Martinez The term “matter” there is no universal definition that would be accepted by all scientists. Usually, this is a generalized name for everything that fills the real world around us – on Earth, in space, in ourselves and in society.
Matter exists objectively, that is, independently of us and our consciousness, but the senses and mind allow people to perceive and cognize matter.
Is there anything in the world at all besides matter?
Of course have! In addition to material objects, there are a great many other objects in the world – mental and spiritual. These are our thoughts, emotions, memory, dreams, desires and more.
True, sages and scientists have been arguing for more than one millennium whether all this can arise and exist without matter.
What is the main property of matter?
These are constant changes. Material objects move in space all the time and change over time.
Even if a person is asleep, organs, fluids move in his body, some substances turn into others. Constant changes are taking place in all communities – from small families to entire nations. Molecules and atoms move in inanimate objects.
Celestial bodies change their location, chemical composition and can disappear altogether, turn into something else. Huge mountains change outlines, substances move inside them.
The earthly firmament is the symbol of stability, and it restlessly tosses and turns on the ocean of liquid magma that supports it. Europe leaves North America at a rate of 2 centimeters per year. And our planet itself, as you know, rotates, changes on the surface and from the inside.
Where did matter come from?
Most scientists adhere to the Big Bang theory. According to this model, 13-14 billion years ago, the entire Universe was concentrated in a tiny volume and had an unimaginably high density and high temperature. This point exploded – began to expand sharply (it is not known why).
Elementary particles were formed, from them atoms, from atoms – stars, planets and in general everything that forms the Universe. Whether matter existed before the Big Bang is unknown.
Are there places in the world free from matter?
Some parts of space seem to us “empty”, but in fact they are always occupied by one or another form of matter. There are two types of it – substance and field. A substance consists of particles and can be in a solid, liquid, gaseous or plasma state.
There are voids between the clusters of matter, but they are always completely filled with fields – electromagnetic or gravitational.
What is antimatter?
This is the name of a substance made of antiparticles – they have the same mass as ordinary ones, but their charges and other characteristics are directly opposite to the usual ones. Almost every “normal” elementary particle has such a “twin”. But the substance, consisting of “twins”, has not yet been found either on Earth or in space. Perhaps our entire universe is made of ordinary matter.
Physicists manage to get antimatter artificially – in microscopic quantities and for a short time (it decays). By the way, this is the most expensive substance on earth: 1 gram of antihydrogen would cost over 60,000,000,000,000 (60 trillion) dollars.
Do they write a lot about dark matter now? What is known about her?
Almost nothing. Moreover: there is no certainty that it exists. It’s just that astronomers have inconsistencies in their calculations. So, in the 1930s, the speed of movement of one cluster of galaxies was measured, and it turned out to be much higher than expected from the estimate of its mass.
Subsequent data also showed that something was wrong with the calculations of the mass of the Universe. I had to assume that there is “something” that makes up most of the mass of the universe. This “something” is not visible to the eye, transparent to electromagnetic waves and generally not detected by any means. The invisible man was called dark matter, its manifestations are being actively sought, but so far to no avail.
