Physical Changes

A physical change is any change NOT involving a change in the substance's chemical
identity. Here are some examples:

(1) any phase change. Moving between solid, liquid and gas involves only the amount of
energy in the sample (this amount is the subject of future lessons). There is no effect on the
chemical identity of the substance. For example, water remains water, no matter if it solid,
liquid or gas.

(2) grinding something into a powder. Or the reverse process of making a bigger lump of
stuff, say by melting lots of small pellets of copper into one big piece.

(3) iron (and other metals) can be made to be magnetic. This change in no way affects the
chemical identity of the element. Iron that is magnetized rusts just as easily as iron that is
not magnetized. (Yes, rusting is a chemical change. Rust is chemically different from iron.)

Now would be a good time as any to list the names of the various phase changes:

Change Name of change

Solid to liquid melting, fusion
Liquid to gas boiling, evaporation
Solid to gas sublimation
Gas to solid deposition
Gas to liquid condensation, liquefaction
Liquid to solid freezing, solidification

An example of sublimation is dry ice. It is solid carbon dioxide and goes directly from the
solid state to gas in the open atmosphere. You can make liquid carbon dioxide, but it must
be done under about 5 atmospheres of pressure.

Deposition is a bit of a non-standard word, but it fits better than using sublimation or
condensation again. Ice cubes in the freezer undergo sublimation to water vapor, even with
the ice is cold. The water vapor deposits back onto the solid ice without even going
through the liquid phase. By the way, this is how ice cubes become "welded" together if
they sit undisturbed in the freezer.

Here is a great example of deposition. First a fact: solid water exists in nine different solid
forms (at various combinations of temperature and pressure), called ice I to ice IX. (The
one we use in our sodas is ice I.) There is a tenth solid form which is only obtained when
water vapor is deposited onto a solid surface which is below -120 °C. At -80°C it
spontaneously changes to ice I, however it cannot be obtained by cooling ice I.
Single Phase Changes

Let’s focus on phase changes that

involve materials changing from
one state of matter to another.
These phase changes can be
brought about by heating or
cooling. The terms used to identify
the various changes are shown on
this diagram. If you are already
familiar with this terminology feel
free to move on to the next topic.

Phase changes can be brought about by heating or cooling. For example if water (a liquid)
is heated enough, it evaporates and becomes water vapor or steam (a gas). This kind of
phase change--liquid to gas--is called evaporation or vaporization.

Water vapor can in turn be cooled to form liquid water. This kind of phase change--from
gas to liquid--is referred to as condensation.

If you were to continue to cool down the water and change it from a liquid to a solid, you
would have another kind of phase change that is called freezing or crystallization.

If you were to then take a solid and warm it up to change it into a liquid, that change is
called melting. (It is also sometimes called fusion.)

Another change that can occur for some solids is to change directly into a gas instead of
changing into a liquid, and that is called sublimation.

The reverse of this process can also occur. Some gases can be cooled down and changed
directly into a solid. That process is also called crystallization, a second meaning for that
word.

Multiple Phase Changes

In addition to these single phase changes, you can have a string of changes, one after
another. There are three of these multiple phase changes that are very important and you
should know them by name.

One is distillation, changing a liquid to a gas distillation

and back to a liquid. LIQUID GAS LIQUID
The second is sublimation, which you
already know means changing a solid to a sublimation (2nd)
gas. The term also applies to a double
process in which a solid is changed to a gas SOLID GAS SOLID
and then back to a solid.
The third is recrystallization, in which a recrystallization (1st)
solid is changed to a liquid and then back to SOLID LIQUID SOLID
a solid. You will see another meaning for
this term soon.

Dissolution and Crystallization

Another type of phase change is dissolving

or dissolution. This involves a material
(usually a solid) seemingly disappearing
when placed into a liquid. Sugar or salt
dissolving in water are examples. The
condition of the sugar and salt have
definitely changed--they are no longer dissolution
homogeneous, opaque, white solids. But they
continue to exist as sugar and salt. (This can SOLID SOLUTION
be verified by taste, in these cases.) They
have changed to a different condition or
phase, but they remain the same materials.
Also, the water remains water even though
the taste of sugar or salt has been mixed in
with it.
The reverse of this process (evaporating
away the water to retrieve the sugar or salt) crystallization (2nd)
is called crystallization (another meaning SOLUTION SOLID
for that term).
Combining both processes (solid to solution recrystallization (2nd)
back to solid) is a second type of
recrystallization. SOLID SOLUTION SOLID

Cited from:

http://www.chemteam.info/
http://www.virtualchembook.com/