CHEMICAL REACTIONS

PHYSICAL CHANGE
NON-REVERSIBLE CHANGE
REVERSIBLE CHANGE
In a chemical reaction, the molecules of one substance break apart and join together
with those of another substance to create a different compound (combination of
molecules). Many chemical reactions are NON-REVERSIBLE CHANGES .You
cannot turn a baked cake back into its raw ingredients. Some chemical reactions can
be reversed, and re-formed into the original substances. These are REVERSIBLE
CHANGES.

When the iron and magnesium in a firework burn, they react with oxygen and
produce ash and smoke. They also release spectacular heat, light, and noise.
Chemical changes produce new materials. They also usually give out or take in
energy such as heat or light because chemical bonds have been broken and made.

When iron rusts, it reacts with oxygen in water or in air to create a new compound
called iron oxide (rust). As in every chemical reaction, no mass is lost or gained. The
same atoms from the original material are in the new materials, but in different
places. If you weighed the iron oxide in this rusting ship, it would weigh the same as
the original iron and oxygen.
PHYSICAL CHANGE
A melting ice lolly is an example of a physical change, not a chemical change. The
liquid ice lolly is not a new material, just a different form of the old one. Physical
changes do not create new substances and no chemical bonds are broken or made.
Melting, freezing, tearing, bending, and crushing are all physical changes that alter a
substances appearance but not its chemical properties.
NON-REVERSIBLE CHANGE
Many chemical reactions are non-reversible changes. This means they are permanent
changes that cannot be undone. You cannot turn the new materials made back into
the original materials again. Rusting is a non-reversible change. However, if rust is
mixed with magnesium powder another chemical reaction occurs and iron can be
extracted from the rust.

Decomposing (rotting) of food is a non-reversible reaction. Tiny living things called
micro-organisms feed on the food and turn it into other substances, including
nitrogen compounds and carbon dioxide. It is impossible to re-create fresh food from
rotten food. This process is called decomposition because complex compounds are
splitting up into simpler compounds.
BURNING
Burning is a non-reversible chemical change. When you burn wood, the carbon in
the wood reacts with oxygen in the air to create ash and smoke, and energy in the
form of light and heat. This is a permanent change that cannot be undone you
cannot turn ashes back into wood.
REVERSIBLE CHANGE
A few chemical reactions can be reversed the original materials can be re-created
from the new materials. These reactions are called reversible changes. They have a
forward reaction and a backward reaction. Both reactions are actually happening at
the same time but, depending on the conditions, one will be stronger than the other.
NITROGEN DIOXIDE
When the gas nitrogen dioxide is heated, a forward chemical reaction changes the
brown nitrogen dioxide gas into two colourless gases nitrogen monoxide and
oxygen. However, if these colourless gases are cooled, they will re-form into brown
nitrogen dioxide gas. This is called a backward chemical reaction.