What describes anything that has mass and takes up space?

• A. Mass
• B. Energy
• C. Matter
• D. Velocity

Answer: (C)

Matter is anything that has mass and takes up space. Mass measures how much material something contains, while taking up space means it has volume. Ordinary things—rocks, water, air, a grain of sugar—fit this definition because they possess both mass and volume. Energy, while it can do work and exist in various forms, doesn’t necessarily have mass or occupy space in the same way, and velocity just describes how fast something is moving, not what it’s made of. So the term that best matches the idea of “anything that has mass and takes up space” is matter.