Chapter 9:

Chemical reactions

Physical changes

This type of change means that no new substances are made, but there is a change in the
appearance of a chemical. Examples of physical change include state changes and dissolving.

State changes

All substances can be solid, liquid or gas.

In this process, water (hydrogen oxide) has not been chemically changed, but by cooling or
heating it, you can change its state.

Dissolving

Some chemicals can be dissolved in water, e.g. common salt (sodium chloride).

Sugar lumps dissolved in water make a sugar solution. Adding more sugar will make the solution
more concentrated. If less sugar had been added, it would be a more dilute solution. Another way
to dilute the solution would be to add more water (think of diluting orange!)

In a solution, the dissolving substance is called the solute. The liquid used to dissolve the solute
is called the solvent. For example, in the case of sugar and water, sugar is the solute, and water is
the solvent.
Chemical reactions

Chemical changes

Chemical reactions usually involve a change in appearance (e.g. colour) or a detectable energy
change (e.g. involving heat, light or sound).

All chemical reactions involve the formation of one or more new substances.

Change in appearance

Rusting involves shiny, grey coloured iron becoming red and crumbly iron oxide

Another example of change in appearance is seen when adding iodine solution to starch. This
will cause a reaction which changes the iodine solution from orange-brown to blue-black.
Detectable energy change

 Car engines release the chemical energy trapped in petrol to allow cars to move:

hydrocarbons + oxygen → carbon dioxide + water

However, even though energy is released, it is omitted from the equation as only the names of
chemicals are included in equations.

Formation of a new substance

Burning charcoal has a main reaction of:

carbon + oxygen → carbon dioxide

Reactions in our life

In living organisms, respiration is the reaction where sugar reacts with oxygen to release energy.
Carbon dioxide and water are products of the reaction:

sugar + oxygen → carbon dioxide + water

Elements

Everything in the world is made from about 100 elements. An element is a substance made up of
only one type of atom. Each element has a name and a symbol.

Element Symbol

Oxygen O

Sodium Na

Potassium K

Compounds and Mixtures

Compounds are formed when atoms from different elements join together. Compounds can be
produced when two different elements react together but mixing two elements together usually is
not enough to cause a chemical reaction.

Mixtures occur when two or more substances come together without reacting. These substances
may be elements or compounds.

A useful example to think of is cooking on a barbecue using burning charcoal - the charcoal
won't burst into flames on its own.

carbon + oxygen → NO REACTION

For the carbon in charcoal to react with oxygen in the air, an energy source is needed to start the
reaction off. In this case, a firelighter must be added:

carbon + oxygen → carbon dioxide

By adding an energy source, the elements carbon and oxygen react to make the compound
carbon dioxide.
Naming new substances

Compounds contain two or more atoms of different elements joined together. The name of a
compound tells us the elements present. The suffix, i.e. the ending, of the name tells us if oxygen
is part of the compound.

Compound name Elements

Hydrogen sulphide H, S

Hydrogen sulphite H, S, O

Hydrogen sulphate H, S, O

Solutions

Most chemical reactions take place with at least one reactant being in solution. For example,
copper sulphate added to water makes a dilute solution. Adding more copper sulphate will make
a concentrated solution.
Adding more copper sulphate will eventually mean that the water cannot dissolve any more
solid, i.e. a saturated solution has been created.

Play

The solubility of a solute can be measured by carefully weighing the solute as it is added to a
certain volume of solvent (e.g. water) and stirring. When there is a small amount of solute left
which cannot be dissolved, the solution is saturated.

By calculating the exact mass of solute that has been dissolved, the solubility is determined. Salt
(sodium chloride) has a solubility of 35 g per 100g of water. So adding 40g of salt to 100g of
water will leave 5g of salt undissolved.