CogKnoSys

Knowledge you can walk. Read the idea below, then step up to the general, across to peers or down to the specific.

One of the three roots

Physical

Physical

The root for everything made of matter and energy: bodies, places, things and the forces that move them.

Learn, discuss, create, buy or invest

The idea

Physical is the root for everything made of matter and energy: bodies, places, things and the forces that move them. In science, matter is anything that has mass and takes up space by having volume. All the everyday objects you can touch are made of atoms, and atoms are made of smaller subatomic particles that interact with each other.

Matter exists in different states, also called phases. The everyday ones are solid, liquid and gas, just as water can be ice, liquid water or steam. Other states are possible too, such as plasma. Some parts of the physical world are not matter at all. Light and heat are forms of energy, and photons, the tiny particles of light, have no mass.

Physics is the scientific study of matter, its motion through space and time, and the related ideas of energy and force. Discoveries in physics often lead to new technologies, such as computers and television. Under this root you can explore the human body, the materials people build with, the forms of energy, the laws of motion, the systems of the Earth, and the rivers, mountains and cities of one real region.

Check yourself

Question 1 of 2

Which of these is not counted as matter?

Pick one. The first pick counts.

Composition

what it's made of

  • Matter — Anything that has mass and takes up space, from atoms to mountains.
  • Energy — What makes change happen, including light and heat, which are not matter.
  • Motion and force — How things move and the pushes and pulls that change their motion.
  • Living bodies — The human body and its systems, built from the same atoms as everything else.
  • Earth and places — The planet's systems and the real landscapes where people live.

Connection

how it relates

One of the three roots

Related

  1. Nature Connectionstrength 50 of 100

    Nature connection is the felt, spiritual side of time spent in the physical world of plants, animals and landscapes.

  2. Fight or Flight Responsestrength 50 of 100

    The fight-or-flight response shows the mind and the physical body acting together, as fear speeds the heart and breathing.

  3. Body Scan Meditationstrength 40 of 100

    A body scan turns the mind's attention to physical sensations in the body.

Change

how and why it evolves

Past
The idea that matter is built from tiny separate pieces appeared in ancient Greece and ancient India, with thinkers such as Kaṇāda, Leucippus and Democritus.
Now
Today scientists use the Standard Model to describe the tiny pieces inside atoms, which are quantum entities with no fixed size.
Next
Researchers will likely keep testing the Standard Model and searching for new particles and forces it does not yet explain.

Knowledge you can walk. Read the idea, then step up, across or down.

One of the three roots

Physical

Physical

The root for everything made of matter and energy: bodies, places, things and the forces that move them.

Learn, discuss, create, buy or invest

The idea

Physical is the root for everything made of matter and energy: bodies, places, things and the forces that move them. In science, matter is anything that has mass and takes up space by having volume. All the everyday objects you can touch are made of atoms, and atoms are made of smaller subatomic particles that interact with each other.

Matter exists in different states, also called phases. The everyday ones are solid, liquid and gas, just as water can be ice, liquid water or steam. Other states are possible too, such as plasma. Some parts of the physical world are not matter at all. Light and heat are forms of energy, and photons, the tiny particles of light, have no mass.

Physics is the scientific study of matter, its motion through space and time, and the related ideas of energy and force. Discoveries in physics often lead to new technologies, such as computers and television. Under this root you can explore the human body, the materials people build with, the forms of energy, the laws of motion, the systems of the Earth, and the rivers, mountains and cities of one real region.

Check yourself

2 quick questions, instant feedback.