Chemical and Physical Properties
By Aidan Nolte
Chemical Properties
Chemical properties describe how some substances can form other substances when combined. Examples include how well something burns, how well something corrodes, how toxic something is, how radioactive, flammable, and/or corrosive something can be.
Physical Properties
Physical properties are used for when a substance doesn't need to be changed for you to observe a quality. They are made using the five senses. Physical properties include color, size, shape, texture, volume, mass, density, and what phase of matter.
Chemical and Physical Changes
Chemical Change
Chemical changes are when an irreversible change is made to a substance, and therefore changes it. Examples of chemical change include: burning, rusting, tarnishing, and cooking.
Ashes
Physical Change
Physical changes are when a substances' property is changed, but the substance itself is unchanged. These changes can be reversed. Examples of physical change include phase changes, changing shape, size, color, and whether or not it is broken.
Why is it important that people understand physical properties, physical change, chemical properties, and chemical change in the real world?
I think that it's important to understand these terms because people need to know that there is more to a chemical than what we can observe with our eyes, ears, etc. Without the discovery of chemical changes and properties, we could be reckless with, say, gasoline or bleach. We could drink bleach or underestimate the combustibility of gasoline and hurt ourselves or each other. Without physical change or properties, color and size would have no significance, and our lives would be a lot duller. There are so many possibilities within properties that we haven't discovered yet.