Introduction to Chemical Reactions -
Consider the following daily life situations and try to answer the following questions :- |
| Burning of Wood |
 |
| Rusting of Iron |
- Are the initial and final substances same or similar?
- Can we get the initial substance back from the final substance?
If your answer to the above questions are NO, then you are absolutely correct.
It
represents the chemical changes or more specifically chemical reactions occurring
in our mother nature, which we observe daily in our life.
Before moving further, it is recommended to know about physical and chemical changes.
Definition -
Chemical
reaction is a process in which one or more substances (reactants) are transformed into a
new set of substances (products) having different properties.
For
example – (from daily life in addition to above examples)
- Curdling of milk.
- Digestion of food.
- Cooking of food.
- Burning of candle.
- Fermentation of sugar.
Basic concepts of a chemical reaction -
- Chemical reaction involves a chemical change.
- The substances which take part in a chemical reaction are called reactants.
- The new substances which are formed in a chemical reaction are called products.
- In a chemical reaction, rearrangement of atoms / ions takes place. The bonds of reactant molecules break to form new bonds of products.
- During a chemical reaction, following physical changes may be observed :
- Change in state (solid, liquid, gas)
- Change in colour
- Change in temperature
- Evolution of gas
Related Articles
- Representation of a Chemical Reaction, (Word and Chemical Equation)
- Balancing a Chemical Equation.
- Chemical Formula of Common Chemical Compounds.
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