DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY- GRADE 5
Topic: Reversible and Irreversible changes
1. Cups for hot drinks are often made from foam plastic. One reason why foam
plastic is used is because it does not dissolve. Write two other reasons why
foam plastic is used to make a cup for hot drinks.
A) High melting point
B) Non porous
2. Angelique works in a large kitchen. She is cooking rice in boiling water.
A) Boiling water is a reversible process. Cooking rice is an irreversible process. Explain why boiling
water is reversible but cooking rice is irreversible.
Water can change back to its original state
A new substance is formed while cooking rice
B) The walls of the kitchen get wet. Angelique knows that the water comes from the boiling water.
Explain how the walls of the kitchen get wet.
The water vapour from boiling water get Condensed on the walls of the kitchen
3. The car engine burns gasoline. What type of change is the burning of gasoline? Circle the correct
answer.
irreversible reversible
Explain your answer.
We cannot change Gasoline to its original state
A new substance is formed, it is a chemical change
4. Solid wax changing into liquid wax is a reversible change. Explain why.
The liquid wax can be cooled to solid wax, there is no chemical reaction
No new substances are formed, It is a physical change.
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5. Hassan owns a motor car. For each material in the table, put a tick (✓) in the correct column to
show if it is a solid, a liquid or a gas at room temperature.
6. Ahmed cooks potatoes in hot water. He puts the cooking pot over a flame and heats the water for 25
minutes.
A) What happens to water when it is boiling?
Water will evaporate
B) Explain why boiling water is a reversible change.
Water vapour can be condensed into water, No chemical reaction
No new substance formed, it is a physical change
C) Explain why cooking a potato is an irreversible change.
A new substance is formed
Cooked potato cannot be changed into the raw potato
7. It is possible to identify a substance from looking at its properties. Here are some properties of six
substances.
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A) Which two substances could be steel? Choose from A, B, C, D, E or F. Explain your answer.
A &D, A and D have high melting and boiling point and it is magnetic and good conductor of heat
B) One of the substances is water. Which substance? Choose from A, B, C, D, E or F
C) The temperature in a laboratory is 25C. Which substance is a gas in this laboratory? Choose from
A, B, C, D, E or F.
D) Substance D melts at 1535C. What happens when a substance melts?
Solid changes to liquid
8. Materials have specific properties. Draw a line between each material and the correct property of
the material.
9. Look at this list of everyday materials.
A) Which of these materials is attracted towards a magnet? Steel
B) Which of these materials is a white solid that is soluble in water? Salt
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C) Which of these materials is a liquid at room temperature? Gasoline
10. Some children have built a snowman on a cold but sunny day.
A) What are the states of matter of the following?
Air: Gas
Snow: Solid
Water: Liquid
B) What is happening to the snowman in the sun? Melting. This process is a
____________________________ (reversible/irreversible change).
C) What will happen to the puddle round the snowman when the temperature drops below 0°C at
night? Freezing. This is an example of (Physical/Chemical) Change.
11. Shannon and Lark are looking at what happens to a beaker of water if it is left in a warm place. They
start their experiment at 09:00 hours on Monday. They measure the amount of water in the beaker at
the same time and record their results in a bar chart. On the following Sunday, there is no water left in
the beaker.
A) Which two days did the amount of water fall by the same amount? Tuesday and Friday
B) What has happened to the water? Evaporation
C) Give one reason for more water being lost on some days than others.
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Sun was hot, high wind speed, low humidity
D) How could Shannon and Lark have prevented any loss of water from the beaker?
Cover the beaker with a lid or condense water keep it in a cold place and it is a (reversible/irreversible
change).
12. The graph shows the temperature of pure water as it is heated from a solid to its boiling point.
A) Fill in boxes on the diagram with the temperature of the melting point and boiling point of water.
B) The water was heated in a beaker. As the water boils the volume of the water decreases. Why?
Water evaporates
C) What happens to the temperature when the water is boiling? Tick the correct box.
13. Five solids, baking soda, flour, instant coffee, sand and sugar were added to hot water and stirred. The
diagrams show what each looked like after the solids had been added to the hot water.
A) Which of the solids are in the beakers?
A=Sugar B= Instant coffee C= baking soda D=sand E=chalk
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B) Some of the solids dissolve in the hot water. What is the meaning of the word dissolved?
The solid is completely mixed with the solvent
C) Which one of the solids reacted with the water and how can you tell it reacted?
Baking soda, bubbles are formed due to the formation of carbon dioxide
D) The chemical change happened in beaker C
14. Changes to materials are either reversible or irreversible. For each of the following changes decide if
the change is reversible or irreversible. Tick the correct boxes.
15. Here is Mia with a box of materials for recycling.
A) Name two different materials Mia could recycle.
Plastic
Paper
B) Mia wants to care for the environment. She recycles as much as possible.
Write down one other way she could care for the environment.
Re-use, Reduce, Recycle
16. When a solid dissolves in water you cannot filter out the solid. Aravinder makes a sugar solution by
adding sugar to water.
A) Complete the sentences using either the word solute or solvent in each of the
spaces.
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Aravinder leaves the solution he made for a long time in a warm room, the Water evaporates. When all the
solvent has gone, only the Sugar is left.
B) What is the name of the process used to get the solid back from the solution? Evaporation
C) What happens to the concentration of the sugar solution as the water is removed? increases
17. Changes can be either reversible or irreversible. Draw straight lines from each of the changes to show if
they are reversible or irreversible.
Which one of the above irreversible reactions is not a chemical change? Breaking an egg
18. The children talk about a snowman that they have made.
A) Tick one box in each row to say whether their statements are True or False?
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B) The snowman’s eyes are made from pieces of coal. Snow melts when it is heated. Coal burns when it is
heated. What types of changes are these? Melting of snow is a physical change and burning of coal is a
chemical change
19. Gennaro makes the following mixtures in his kitchen.
A) Complete the table to say what happens to each of the mixtures. Tick the correct box for each mixture.
B) Which is irreversible? Bicarbonate soda and vinegar
C) Why is it irreversible?
It cannot be changed back to its original form
D) Write down how he could get salt back from B.
Evaporate the solution. The salt will be at the bottom of the beaker as a solid.
20. Write any two differences between Physical changes and Chemical changes
Physical Change Chemical change
1. Most of the physical changes are reversible 1. All chemical changes are Irreversible
2. no new substances are not formed 2. New substances are formed
3. The chemical properties of the substance 3. The chemical properties of the substance
do not change will change
4. A substance can return to its original state 4. A substance cannot return to its original
5. Example: Melting of ice state
5. Example: Corrosion of metals
