Grade 4 Particles & Mass worksheet
from Gradelings · Name: ______________________
How to explain it
- All matter is made of tiny particles that are always moving.
- Solid particles are packed tight. Liquid particles slide past each other. Gas particles spread out.
- When matter melts or freezes in a closed container, its mass stays the same.
- Warmer particles move faster and spread out, so the matter expands.
Example: You seal 250 g of ice in a bag and it melts. What is the mass of the water? Nothing got in or out of the sealed bag. Melting changes the state, not the amount of matter. Answer: 250 g
Question 1
A drop of food colouring is added to each cup. In which cup will the colour spread slowest?
Cups of water Cup Temperature A 20 °C B 4 °C C 65 °C - Cup A
- Cup C
- Cup B
Cup B
Hint: Cold particles move more slowly. Find the coldest cup.
Question 2
Jay seals 596 g of ice in a bag. The ice melts. What is the mass of the water in the bag?
⚖️answer boxg
596 g
Hint: Melting changes the state, not the amount of matter. Nothing got in or out of the bag, so the mass stays the same.
Question 3
Solid, liquid or gas? Tap an item, then tap its basket.
Sort into: 🧱 solid · 💧 liquid · 💨 gas
- 🪨rock
- ✏️pencil
- 🌧️rain drops
- 🥛milk
- ♨️steam from a kettle
- 🎈air in a balloon
🧱 solid: rock, pencil · 💧 liquid: rain drops, milk · 💨 gas: steam from a kettle, air in a balloon
Hint: Solids keep their shape. Liquids flow and take the shape of their container. Gases spread out to fill any space.
Question 4
Why does the red liquid in a thermometer rise when it gets warmer?
🌡️- Cold air pushes it up
- The liquid gets heavier
- The glass tube shrinks
- Its particles move faster and spread out, so it expands
Its particles move faster and spread out, so it expands
Hint: Heated particles move faster and take up more room, so the liquid climbs up the tube.
Question 5
In which state of matter are the particles packed tightly together?
- 💧liquid
- 🧱solid
- 💨gas
🧱 solid
Hint: In a solid, particles are packed tightly and just wiggle in place. That's why solids keep their shape.
Question 6
Which one has mass and takes up space?
- 🌈a rainbow
- 🔊a sound
- 🎈the air inside a balloon
- 👤a shadow
🎈 the air inside a balloon
Hint: Air is matter! It fills up the balloon. Shadows, sounds and rainbows are not matter.
Question 7
Lena stirs 17 g of salt into 370 g of water until it dissolves. What is the mass of the salt water?
⚖️answer boxg
387 g
Hint: The salt is still there, just mixed in as tiny particles. Add the masses: 370 + 17.
Question 8
You push an upside-down empty cup straight down into water. Why does the inside stay mostly dry?
🥤- Water only flows downhill
- The cup is full of air, and air takes up space
- The water is too cold to go in
- Water can't touch plastic
The cup is full of air, and air takes up space
Hint: The 'empty' cup is really full of air. The trapped air takes up space, so water can't fill it.
Question 9
What happens to particles when they are heated?
🔥- They move slower
- They move faster
- They disappear
- They stop moving
They move faster
Hint: Heat gives particles more energy, so they move faster and spread apart.
Question 10
Jay has a 230 g ball of clay and squishes it into a flat pancake. What is its mass now?
⚖️answer boxg
230 g
Hint: Changing the shape doesn't add or remove any clay, so the mass stays the same.
Answer key
- 1. Cup B
- 2. 596 g
- 3. 🧱 solid: rock, pencil · 💧 liquid: rain drops, milk · 💨 gas: steam from a kettle, air in a balloon
- 4. Its particles move faster and spread out, so it expands
- 5. 🧱 solid
- 6. 🎈 the air inside a balloon
- 7. 387 g
- 8. The cup is full of air, and air takes up space
- 9. They move faster
- 10. 230 g
Want more than 10 questions?
In Gradelings the questions change every time and adjust to your child, with hints and kind feedback.