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If you add enough heat to an ice cube, it will melt. Water changes state when the temperature or pressure around it changes in the right way. Gases, such as water vapor, will expand to fill whatever container they are put into, regardless of volume. When this water evaporates and becomes a gas (water vapor), the molecules move around quickly and randomly. Liquid water will spread out to fit whatever container it is put in, limited by the amount, or volume, of water. When ice melts and becomes liquid, the water molecules move freely, though they still interact with one another. Ice keeps its shape no matter what container it is put in. When water is in the solid state-ice-its atoms stick together rigidly and only vibrate.

However, the different states of water do have distinct physical properties. In each of these states, the water molecules are identical-water’s chemical properties do not change. For example, water exists on Earth in three states: solid, liquid, and gas. Matter can exist in different states, or phases. However, it does carry energy, which can be transfered between atoms. Light, which is made up of particles called photons, is not considered matter because it has no mass. All of these particles are forms of matter because they have mass and occupy space. Protons and neutrons, however, are made up of smaller particles called quarks. Electrons, which orbit an atom’s nucleus, are considered fundamental particles because they cannot be broken down further. Atoms themselves are made up of even smaller bits of matter: protons, neutrons, and electrons.

The most familiar forms of matter- elements and compounds-are made of up tiny particles called atoms. According to the Big Bang theory, at the beginning of the universe, all matter erupted from a singularity, a hot, dense speck of matter. Earth, and everything on it, is made of matter, so are all the stars and planets in the universe. Matter is any substance that has mass and takes up space.