Scope note

Text

This class comprises fixed amounts of matter specified as some air, some water, some soil, etc., defined by the total and integrity of their material content. In order to be able to identify and recognize in practice one instance of S11 Amount of Matter, some sort of confinement is needed that serves as a constraint for the enclosed matter and the integrity of the content, such as a bottle. In contrast to instances of E18 Physical Thing, no stability of form is required. The content may be put into another bottle without losing its identity. Subclasses may define very different identity conditions for the integrity of the content, such as chemical composition, or the sequence of layers of a bore core. Whereas an instance of E18 Physical Thing may gradually change form and chemical composition while preserving its identity, such as living beings, an instance of S11 Amount of Matter may lose its identifying features by such processes. What matters for the identity of an instance of S1 Amount of Matter is the preservation of a relevant composition from the initial state of definition onwards.

Language

en