Friday 1 April 2016

Heating Reactions

When we heat things, there are a couple of possible outcomes:

  • Physical Change (melting, boiling)
  • Chemical Reaction
    • Combustion (reaction with oxygen)
    • Combination (reaction between two elements; combustion is an example)
    • Thermal Decomposition (one chemical breaks down into two, or more, chemicals; one product is carbon dioxide)

We did some experiments to try and work out how to tell which type of reaction is happening. We found:

THERMAL DECOMPOSITION
  • Start with a single chemical that has the word "carbonate" in it.
  • Creates a gas that turns limewater cloudy (this is carbon dioxide).

COMBINATION
  • Start with an element (usually, this is a metal).
  • This reacts with another element (usually, this is oxygen).
  • Creates one chemical that has two names (zinc sulfide, magnesium oxide, iron (III) oxide, etc.).