Class 8 Science Chapter 7, Particulate Nature of Matter, asks why we can pile up pebbles or sand on a riverbank while water spreads out and air fills a balloon—and answers by looking inside matter at its constituent particles, their spacing, attractions and motion.
What Class 8 Science Chapter 7 Covers
7.1 What Is Matter Composed of? uses dissolution and dilution experiments (Activities 7.1 and 7.2) along with ancient Indian ideas (Acharya Kanad’s paramanu) to show that matter is made of tiny particles.
7.2 What Decides Different States of Matter? compares interparticle forces of attraction across solids, liquids and gases (Activities 7.3 to 7.5).
7.3 Interparticle Spacing and 7.4 How Particles Move investigate compressibility, syringe experiments and diffusion (Activities 7.6 to 7.9) to contrast particle spacing and movement in the three states of matter.
Exercises in Chapter 7
- Keep the curiosity alive end-of-chapter questions and reasoning exercises.
- Discover, design, and debate and Projects for hands-on investigation.
Read Class 8 Science Chapter 7 Online
More Chapters
- Previous: Chapter 6: Pressure, Winds, Storms, and Cyclones
- Next: Chapter 8: Nature of Matter: Elements, Compounds, and Mixtures
- Hindi medium: Class 8 Science Chapter 7 PDF in Hindi (Jigyasa)
- All Science chapters and the other Class 8 books: Class 8 NCERT books 2026-27
- All Class 1 to 12 NCERT Textbooks: NCERT Books PDF (Class 1–12)
FAQ
What decides the state of matter in Class 8 Science Chapter 7?
The balance between the interparticle forces of attraction holding particles together and the thermal motion and spacing of the particles.
Why can gases be compressed easily while solids cannot?
Gases have large interparticle spaces between their particles, whereas particles in a solid are tightly packed with very little space between them.