Differentiating Physical & Chemical Changes
Differentiating Physical & Chemical Changes
Have you ever wondered if the changes that happen during a lab or everyday life is a physical or chemical change? This is a clear list of attributes of physical and chemical changes that might hint to you how to identify your changes.
Graduated Cylinders
Physical Changes:
Physical changes are changes in which no bonds are broken or formed. This means that the same types of compounds or elements that were there at the beginning of the change are there at the end of the change. Properties of the compound/element (such as color, boiling point, etc.) will also be the same. Physical changes involve moving molecules around, but not changing them.
Some examples of physical changes include:
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Melting Ice
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Dissolving Sugar in Water
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Breaking Glass
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Boiling Water
Some Characteristics of Physical Changes are changes in:
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Texture
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Color
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Temperature
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Shape
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Change of State
Physical changes can further be categorized as reversible or irreversible. Take the Melting Ice for example, melted ice cubes may be refrozen, so melting is a reversible physical change and breaking a glass in an irreversible physical change for shattered glass cannot be reassembled into its original form even though the material is still glass.
Ice Melting
Chemical Changes:
Chemical changes happen when the bonds between atoms or molecules break or form, resulting in a brand new substance with different properties than the original material, and this change is often hard to reverse.
Some examples of chemical changes include:
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Burning Wood
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Rusting of Iron
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Cooking an Egg
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Baking a Cake
Some Characteristics of Chemical Changes are changes in:
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Noticeable Odor
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Color
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Temperature
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Formation of Precipitate (a solid formed by a change in a solution)
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Formation of Bubbles
Lastly, it is necessary to understand the differences between physical and chemical changes within the chemistry unit
