Last updated on March 6, 2008 at 5:00AM

Chemical and Physical Reactions Lesson

Part 1: Theory on Physical and Chemical Reactions

What is the difference between a physical and a chemical reaction?

Try to move through part one pretty quickly, especially the groups with shorter sessions.
There’s a lot to be done when the kids get to do their own experiments.

1. Ask the students to define chemical and physical reactions. Write their
suggestions on the board and then write the following definitions:
a. Physical Reactions: A physical reaction is a change in shape, size or
temperature of something where after the change, the material still has
the same properties.
b. Chemical Reactions: Chemical reactions are changes that involve
breaking up reactant molecules to make new, product molecules.
Make sure to use these terms, in your explanation. Spend some time
talking about how reactants and products are what go into and come
out of chemical reactions.

2. Ask for examples of physical and chemical reactions and start a list on the
board of their thoughts
• Prompt them with ideas such as:

Physical Reactions Chemical Reactions

Ice/wax melting Paper burning
Crushing a can with your foot Bread rising

• For physical reactions: Have the students look at their examples to

help them think of definitions. What are the properties of a can
before and after it is crushed? Is it still aluminum? Were the
aluminum boats they made last week the same material in any
shape? They look different, but they’re still made up of the same
thing.
• For chemical reactions: Note to the students that in this sort of
reaction the resulting product is not the same substance as the
starting product. This can often be seen in a significant change in
appearance between the reactant and product (like paper and
burned paper) in a chemical reaction, although in some cases the
product of a chemical reaction can look like the reactant even
though it is now some other substance.

3. Next, drive the distinction between physical and chemical reactions home by
having the students try to explain why melting and burning are different
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a. Burning involves changing the material’s structure. May want to

mention here that burning it is a reaction with oxygen since we will
talk about that later on in one of the demonstrations. You can also
mention that burning results in the creation of carbon dioxide and
water. The students should be familiar with both of these products.

b. Melting simply changes the shape the material is in. May want to
remind the students of the physical states (solid, liquid, gas, and
plasma which is more difficult to explain) which they will have likely
leaned in class, since it is part of the California science standards for
elementary school students (plasma is not part of the standards, but
you can explain it by telling the students that plasma is a gas that
doesn’t behave like normal gases, and that the sun and stars for
example, are made up of plasma).

4. Now tell the students that you will conduct 2 experiments in the front of class
to demonstrate chemical and physical reactions. Tell them one of the
reactions you will show them is physical and one is chemical, and ask the
students after you do each one what reaction, chemical or physical, they guess
each to be. Don’t reveal the correct answers until you have performed both
experiments.

Experiment 1:

Supplies: 1-filter flask (or Erlenmeyer or beaker, or any completely

transparent container), dry ice, paper towel to cover the lid

Place the dry ice into the transparent container and cover the top. Ask
the students to describe what is happening. Take off the paper towel to
watch the subliming gas rush out of the opening. Ask the students:
Was this a physical or chemical reaction? What is happening here?
What state if the dry ice in? What state is the fog in? Let the students
take a guess and record the results on the board. Ask a few students to
explain their hypothesis as to whether the reaction with the dry ice is
physical or chemical.

Experiment 2:

Supplies: 1-large Erlenmeyer flask (500 mL) with tight fitting rubber
stopper, 250 mL tap water, 2.5 g glucose, 2.5 g NaOH, 1 mL of 0.1%
methylene blue (percentage by weight or volume; it doesn’t matter
since the concentration is so low)

1. Add 250 mL of tap water to Erlenmeyer flask.

2. Dissolve 2.5 g of glucose in the flask
3. Dissolve 2.5 g of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) in flask
4. Add ~1 ml of 0.1% methylene blue to the flask.
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5. Stopper the flask and shake to dissolve the dye. The resulting
solution will be blue.
6. Set the flasks aside (this is a good time to explain the chemistry of
the demonstration at a high level since the students are likely not
familiar with molecules and bonds). The liquid will gradually
become colorless as glucose is oxidized by the dissolved oxygen
(the students will be amazed, by this colorful change). A thin blue
boundary can be expected to remain at the solution-air interface,
since oxygen remains available via diffusion so don’t worry if you
see blue at the liquid-air boundary, since the students in the class
likely won’t be able to see it from their desks (if they do see it you
can discuss why they see it in terms of the oxygen which reinforces
the learning goal for this part of the lesson).
7. The blue color of the solutions can be restored by swirling or
shaking the contents of the flask, which you should do (the
students will once again be amazed by this colorful change).
8. The reaction can be repeated several times.

Demonstrate the reaction. You should have the solution ready with the
glucose and sodium hydroxide dissolved in the water. Then for the
demonstration you can add the methylene blue to the flask, stopper,
and swirl. The students will see the color change. Then have them
continue to watch to see as the color fades.

Was this a physical or chemical reaction? Let the students guess, and
record the votes on the board. Ask the students what they think
happened in the flask. Why did it turn blue? Why did it return to clear?
What is in the flask? What happens when I shake it? Why do you think
it changes color when I shake it up?

Shake the flask again and watch as it turns blue once more and then
fades.

Explanation of the chemistry involved for the tutors:

In this reaction glucose is slowly oxidized by O2 to form gluconic acid. The gluconic
acid is then converted to gluconate in the presence of NaOH. Methylene blue speeds
up this reaction by acting as an oxygen transfer agent. By oxidizing glucose,
methylene blue is itself reduced (forming leucomethylene blue), and becomes
colorless. If there is sufficient available oxygen (from air), leucomethylene blue is re-
oxidized and the blue color of solution can be restored. Upon standing, glucose
reduces the methylene blue dye and the color of the solution disappears.
Last updated on March 6, 2008 at 5:00AM

Experimental Review and Wrap-up

Reveal Experiment 1 to be a Physical Reaction, because it is simply

the sublimation of frozen carbon dioxide. Explain that sublimation is a
change of state between a solid and a gas directly. In essence there is
no change in the molecular structure of CO2 just a change in its
state/temperature. Then, ask the students to identify the terms for
other changes in state. For example, have the students identify boiling,
condensing, freezing, melting, evaporating.

Reveal Experiment 2 to be a Chemical Reaction, because the

molecules present in the solution actually change. This reaction in
particular involved the reaction with oxygen, the more oxygen there is
to react, the more brightly the blue shows up.

As a transition to the next part of the lesson, tell the students that they will now be doing
2 hands-on chemical experiments in groups of 3 or 4. The experiments the students will
be doing are an acid-base reaction and a reaction to demonstrate the difference between
endothermic and exothermic reactions. Note to the students that these reactions (and
many others) happen in our bodies every day.

Part 2: Hands on Chemical Experiments

Divide the class into groups of 3 or 4 for each of the following experiments:

Acid-Base Reaction with Vinegar and Baking Soda:

Safety note: Vinegar and baking soda are both fairly harmless materials. However, don’t let the
students get either in their eyes.

1. Provide an overall explanation of the lesson to the students, and while the
explanation is being given, supplies will be passed out by other tutors.
2. Each group gets one plastic bowl with a small amount of baking soda in the
bottom.
3. Have the students fill out their hypothesis about what is going to happen on
worksheets for the chemical reactions lesson.
4. Have the students copy down the experimental procedure as you tell them on their
worksheets. You should also write this procedure on the board. Tell the students
make sure that they fill out the rest of the sheet as the experiment continues. This
worksheet goes through the canonical scientific method for the experiment the
students are doing, and as a broad model for how science is done (and as a
California learning standard for elementary school science education), the
students should learn and understand this model.
5. A tutor will then walk around to each group and put a small amount of vinegar on
the baking soda, and allow the students to stir the resulting mixture if the reaction
does not take place immediately (it should take place immediately, but it may be
possible to get more out of the reaction if the students have a chance to stir the
Last updated on March 6, 2008 at 5:00AM

reaction). The students should record observations about the reaction on their
worksheet.
6. After the student groups complete their reactions, the tutors can do a similar
reaction on a larger scale with a flask (or Erlenmeyer, or any transparent container
with a narrow neck that can be closed off with a balloon) in front of the class.
a. Put about an inch of water in a flask with a small amount of baking soda.
b. Add some vinegar, and seal the reaction with a balloon on top. The
balloon should inflate, if only mildly. This should lead to some discussion
about carbon dioxide as a product in the reaction performed. The students
should know what carbon dioxide is, since they will have likely learned
about the greenhouse effect.

Explanation of the Chemistry Involved for the Tutors:

This is an acid-base reaction. Baking soda (aka sodium bicarbonate; NaHCO3) reacts
with vinegar, which contains acetic acid (C2H4O2).

The acetic acid reacts with the aqueous sodium bicarbonate to produce sodium acetate
(NaC2H3O2) and carbonic acid (H2CO3) as follows:

NaHCO3 (aq) + C2H4O2 (aq) → NaC2H3O2 (aq) + H2CO3 (aq)

- The carbonic acid then breaks down further into carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O).
The carbon dioxide gets released as the gas.

(Someone should be cleaning up while the others continue with more reactions.)

Endo and Exothermic Reactions Via Warming Pad:

Start by introducing Endo and Exothermic Reactions and what they mean. For those of
you who need to brush up on your chemistry, here is a basic explanation of the
differences and results in Endo and Exothermic Reactions:

Heat is a very important part of chemical and physical reactions. Some reactions
require heat in order to proceed. These are called endothermic reactions.
Endothermic reactions take the heat they need from their surroundings – the air,
the vessel, etc. Think of endothermic reactions as heat thieves, taking whatever
heat they see around them. On the other hand, some reactions give off (or
release) heat. These are called exothermic reactions. Exothermic reactions are
like the Santa Claus of heat, giving heat away to everything around them. If a
reaction releases a lot of heat, it is called highly exothermic, just as a reaction
that requires a lot of heat be added is called highly endothermic. If a reaction is
highly endothermic or exothermic, we can actually feel the change in heat as the
reaction progresses by touching the objects surrounding the chemicals (not by
touching the chemicals themselves!).
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1. You will introduce to each group a small cut out of an off the shelf instant heating
pad.
2. Have them all feel it and see what their response is about its temperature.
3. Have them remove the sticky backing to the pad and place it on someone’s hand
4. Monitor the temperature change (Possibly use the boxed mini lecture above to
give the small pads time to heat up.)
5. Ask them questions about what they think is going on (examples are listed below.)
a. Does this mean the reaction is exothermic or endothermic? Be careful!
Remember that a reaction is endothermic if the chemicals in the reaction
take heat from the surroundings and exothermic if the chemical give extra
heat away to the surroundings.
b. Draw a diagram showing the flow of heat for this reaction. Where does
the heat go?
c. Is this a chemical reaction or a physical reaction?
d. Can you think of any exothermic or endothermic reactions that you see
in everyday life?