Physical Changes

Read the article and watch the video before answering the questions.

Observing Changes in Matter

For a paper maché art project, you crumple up a sheet of paper. What happens to it?  Does it look different? Does it feel different? Is it still paper?

For another art project, you make a torn paper collage. When cooking you might melt or freeze foods. Melting, freezing, and tearing are ways to change matter. The matter changes the way it looks, but not what it is. There are other changes that change the matter into something new.

Everything we see or feel is matter. Anything that has mass and takes up space is matter. Paper is matter. Ice cream is matter. Water is matter. What happens when you blow up a balloon? The space inside the balloon fills with air. Air is matter, too.

You can learn about matter by looking at its physical properties. Physical properties are the things we can see or measure. Color, size, and texture are physical properties.

Read the article and watch the video before answering the questions.

How Can I Tell If Matter Has Changed? What Are Some of the Ways That You Can Change Materials?    

Sometimes you can see or feel how matter has changed. Crumpled paper feels rough. It can have a round shape. It looks different than paper that is smooth.

How Can You Measure Changes in a Material?    

A crayon is matter. If you leave it outside on a hot day, how do you think it will change? Changing the shape or size of a material does not make a new material. You can break a stick into small pieces. It is still a stick!

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is a physical change?

• baking a cake

• frying an egg

• breaking a mirror

• burning wood

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is a physical change?

• milk that has turned sour

• dough that gets baked

• An old car that rusts

• A wet towel that dried

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is NOT physical change?

• Melting ice cream

• rusty nail

• boiling water

• painting paper

Multiple Choice

Gabby wants to experiment with sugar cubes.  Which of the following causes a sugar cube to change only physically?

• breaking the sugar down into a new substance using sulfuric acid

• burning the sugar cube with a match

• crushing the sugar cube and dissolving in water

• chewing the sugar cube and digesting it

Multiple Choice

Which is a way you can physically change paper?

• eating it

• ripping it

• burning it