Physical & Chemical Properties

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES	CHEMICAL PROPERTIES
Colour Melting Point Boiling Point Solubility Hardness Strength Elasticity Heat Conductivity Electrical Conductivity Ability to transmit light Lustre ('shininess' or dullness) Magnetic attraction	pH Reaction with oxygen (flammability or corrosion) Reaction with water Reaction with acids and bases Reaction with metals

Physical & Chemical Changes

Physical Change occurs when no new substance is made, and the change is usually easy to reverse.
Examples of a Physical Change - freezing water, melting ice, dissolving common salt in water
Chemical Change (or Chemical Reaction) occurs when a new substance is made, and often the change is difficult to reverse. A chemical change is also usually accompanied by a colour change, a different smell, a bright light, a popping sound, or some other feature that our senses can detect.
Examples of a Chemical Change - cooking a cake, cooking a roast chicken, burning wood

Writing Chemical Reactions
In a chemical change, reactant chemicals react to form product chemicals e.g.

HCl + NaOH NaCl + H₂O

Reactants Products

Endothermic Reactions - These are reactions that take in energy in the reaction. (e.g. Cooking a cake requires the input of heat energy from the oven.)
Exothermic Reactions - These reactions give out energy (e.g. When explosives are lit, there is an overall release of energy.)

Amount of Reagents - The more reagent chemicals there are, the faster the reaction occurs.
Concentration of Reagents - The more concentrated reagents are, the faster the reaction occurs.
Temperature - The higher the temperature, the faster the reaction occurs.
Surface Area - When reagent chemicals are in a powder form, they have a greater surface area to come in contact, and the reaction occurs faster.
Catalysts - Catalysts are chemicals that speed up chemical reactions. They are not part of the overall reaction, and are reformed when the reaction is complete. Catalysts reduce the amount of energy required to start a reaction.

COMBINATION
A combination reaction occurs when 2 or more reactants combine to make 1 product. Combustion and corrosion are two examples of combination reactions.
Example 1
Iron + Oxygen Iron Oxide
Fe + O₂ FeO
Example 2
Magnesium + Oxygen Magnesium oxide
Mg + O₂ MgO

DECOMPOSITION
A decomposition reaction occurs when 1 reactant breaks down into 2 or more products.
Example 1
Calcium carbonate Calcium oxide + Carbon dioxide
CaCO₃ CaO + CO₂
Example 2
Copper carbonate Copper oxide + Carbon dioxide
CuCO₃ CuO + CO₂

DISPLACEMENT
The 2 ions that make up each of the 2 reactants 'swap partners' to make 2 new products.
Example 1
Hydrochloric acid + Sodium hydroxide Sodium chloride + Water
HCl + NaOH NaCl + H₂O
Example 2
Sodium carbonate + Copper sulphate Sodium sulphate + Copper carbonate
Na₂CO₃ + CuSO₄ Na₂SO₄ + CuCO₃

Reactants are the chemical that begin the reaction and are on the left hand side of the arrow.
Products are the chemicals produced from the reactants and are on the right hand side of the arrow.
Law of Conservation of Matter
In a chemical reaction, matter cannot be created nor destroyed, but can only be changed from one form to another.
This means that the number of each type of atom before the reaction must equal the number of each type of atom after the reaction.