When Place Matters: The 1918 Flu Pandemic in Small Towns and Villages in the United States

Matter: Pure Substances and Mixtures
According to its composition, the matter can be classified into two broad categories — pure substances and mixtures. 
A pure substance is a form of matter that has a constant composition throughout with uniform properties. For example, any sample of sucrose has the same composition and same physical properties, such as melting point, color, and sweetness, regardless of the source from which it is isolated. 
A mixture is composed of two or...

The International System of Units or SI system, by international agreement, has fixed measurement units for seven fundamental properties: length, mass, time, temperature, electric current, amount of substance, and luminosity. These are called the SI base units.

Every measurement provides three kinds of information: the size or magnitude of the measurement (a number), a standard of comparison for the measurement (a unit), and an indication of the uncertainty of the measurement. While the number and unit are explicitly represented when a quantity is written, the uncertainty is an aspect of the errors in the measurement results.

Chemistry is the study of matter and the changes it undergoes. Matter is anything that has mass and occupies space. Matter is all around us; the air, water, soil, mountains, even our bodies are all examples of matter. Matter is divided into three states — solid, liquid, and gas — that are commonly found on earth. The fourth state of matter, plasma, occurs naturally in the interiors of stars. 

The earliest recorded discussion of the basic structure of matter comes from ancient Greek philosophers. Leucippus and Democritus argued that all matter was composed of small, finite particles that they called atomos, meaning “indivisible.” Later, Aristotle and others came to the conclusion that matter consisted of various combinations of the four “elements” — fire, earth, air, and water — and could be infinitely divided. Interestingly, these philosophers...

The characteristics that enable us to distinguish one substance from another are called properties.