What is the Difference between Physical and Chemical Change?

Physical and Chemical Change

A Matter generally undergoes two types of changes which is Physical and Chemical.

As the name suggests, a physical change is an alteration to the physical properties of matter, and a chemical change affects the chemical properties of matter.

Many of the physical changes are generally reversible, whereas chemical changes are generally irreversible or only reversible to added chemical changes.

Physical Change of Matter

A physical change does not fundamentally cause matter to change into a different substance. For example, blending a smoothie in a blender involves two different forms of physical change.

1. The change in the shape of the fruits.

2. The mixing of the different pieces of the fruits together.

As none of the chemical properties of the fruit change during the blending, or in other words, the water and nutrients of the fruits remain unchanged during the blending, it is considered a physical change.

All changes that involve tearing, mixing, shattering, and grinding are different types of physical change.

These changes do not affect the chemical composition of the substance but change the physical appearance.

Phase changes are also considered physical changes.

Phase changes like melting, freezing, boiling, condensing, sublimating, or depositing are all considered physical change as it does not affect the chemical composition or the nature of the substance.

The boiling of water is a perfect example of physical change through a phase change. Once the water is boiled, it changes into vapour which retains the same chemical properties as water (H2O).

If boiling water had broken the molecules of H2O into H2 and O2, it would have been considered a chemical change.