Physical vs Chemical Change - HunterWoodsPH.com Worksheet ... - Free Printable

To solve this, we need to sort each item into either Physical Change or Chemical Change.

Let’s go step by step:

What is a Physical Change?

- No new substance is made.
- Often reversible (like melting ice → water → freeze back to ice).
- Examples: bending, melting, evaporating.

What is a Chemical Change?

- A new substance IS made.
- Usually not reversible (you can’t un-burn paper or un-rust metal).
- Examples: rusting, burning, decaying.

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Now let’s look at each example:

1. butter melting → Butter turns from solid to liquid, but it’s still butter. No new substance. → Physical

2. leaves decaying → Leaves break down and turn into soil/compost — new substances are formed. → Chemical

3. metal bending → Metal changes shape, but it’s still the same metal. → Physical

4. metal rusting → Rust is a new substance (iron oxide). You can’t turn rust back into pure metal easily. → Chemical

5. paper burning → Paper turns into ash and smoke — new substances. Can’t un-burn it. → Chemical

6. water evaporating → Water becomes vapor, but it’s still H₂O. Can condense back. → Physical

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Also, match the descriptions:

- “different substance is produced” → Chemical
- “no new substance is produced” → Physical
- “may be reversible” → Physical
- “not reversible” → Chemical

But since the task says “Sort the following according to whether they refer to physical change or chemical change,” and lists examples with “ex.”, we focus on sorting the examples into the two boxes.

So:

✔ PHYSICAL CHANGE BOX:
- butter melting
- metal bending
- water evaporating

✔ CHEMICAL CHANGE BOX:
- leaves decaying
- metal rusting
- paper burning

Wait — there are 6 examples total, and each box has 5 slots? That might be a design thing — maybe one slot is extra or for description? But looking again, the worksheet shows 6 example boxes and then two columns with 5 blank lines each. Hmm.

Actually, re-reading: The instruction says “Sort the following...” and lists 6 examples. Then there are two big boxes labeled PHYSICAL and CHEMICAL, each with 5 blank lines. So perhaps we’re meant to put the 6 examples into the correct category, and maybe one line in each box is for the *description* phrases? Let’s check the top part.

Above the examples, there are 4 blue boxes with descriptions:

- different substance is produced → Chemical
- no new substance is produced → Physical
- may be reversible → Physical
- not reversible → Chemical

So likely, those 4 descriptions also need to be sorted!

That makes sense now — total items to sort = 4 descriptions + 6 examples = 10 items.

Each column (Physical and Chemical) has 5 blank lines → perfect for 5 items each.

So let’s assign all 10:

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PHYSICAL CHANGE (5 items):

1. no new substance is produced *(description)*
2. may be reversible *(description)*
3. butter melting *(example)*
4. metal bending *(example)*
5. water evaporating *(example)*

CHEMICAL CHANGE (5 items):

1. different substance is produced *(description)*
2. not reversible *(description)*
3. leaves decaying *(example)*
4. metal rusting *(example)*
5. paper burning *(example)*

Yes! That fits perfectly — 5 in each box.

Final Answer:

PHYSICAL CHANGE:
- no new substance is produced
- may be reversible
- butter melting
- metal bending
- water evaporating

CHEMICAL CHANGE:
- different substance is produced
- not reversible
- leaves decaying
- metal rusting
- paper burning