Chemical Properties

3 How would you describe a piece of wood before and after it is

burned? Has it changed color? Does it have the same texture?
What You Will Learn The original piece of wood changed, and physical properties
Describe two examples of chemical alone cant describe what happened to it.
properties.
Explain what happens during a
chemical change. Chemical Properties
Distinguish between physical and Physical properties are not the only properties that describe
chemical changes. matter. Chemical properties describe matter based on its ability
to change into new matter that has different properties. For
Vocabulary
example, when wood is burned, ash and smoke are created.
chemical property
These new substances have very different properties than the
chemical change
original piece of wood had. Wood has the chemical property
of flammability. Flammability is the ability of a substance to
READING STRATEGY
burn. Ash and smoke cannot burn, so they have the chemical
Reading Organizer As you read this property of nonflammability.
section, create an outline of the sec-
tion. Use the headings from the sec- Another chemical property is reactivity. Reactivity is the
tion in your outline. ability of two or more substances to combine and form one
or more new substances. The photo of the old car in Figure 1
S8CS4.a Use appropriate technology to illustrates reactivity and nonreactivity.
store and retrieve scientic information in
topical, alphabetical, numerical, and keyword les, What does the term reactivity mean? S8CS10.c
and create simple les.
S8P1.d Distinguish between physical and chemical
properties of matter as physical (i.e., density, melting
point, boiling point) or chemical (i.e., reactivity,
combustibility).
Figure 1 Reactivity with Oxygen
S8P1.e Distinguish between changes in matter
as physical (i.e., physical change) or chemical (i.e.,
development of a gas, formation of precipitate, and The iron used in this old car has the chemi-
change in color).
cal property of reactivity with oxygen. When
iron is exposed to oxygen, it rusts.

The bumper on this car

still looks new because it
is coated with chromium.
Chromium has the chemi-
cal property of nonreac-
tivity with oxygen.

50 Chapter 2 The Properties of Matter