Chemical property facts for kids
A chemical property describes how a substance changes when it reacts with other substances or when it undergoes a chemical change. You can't just look at or touch a substance to know its chemical properties. Instead, you need to see how it behaves during a chemical reaction. This is different from a physical property, which you can observe without changing the substance's basic makeup, like its color or how hard it is.
When a substance goes through a chemical reaction, its chemical properties often change a lot. This leads to a new substance with different properties. For example, if you burn wood, it turns into ash and smoke. The wood's ability to burn (flammability) is a chemical property.
Chemical properties are very useful in chemistry. Scientists use them to identify unknown substances, to sort chemicals into groups, or to separate a pure substance from a mixture.
What are Chemical Properties?
Chemical properties tell us about a substance's potential to change into something new. They describe how a substance will react under certain conditions.
How Substances React
- Reactivity: This describes how easily a substance reacts with other chemicals. Some substances are very reactive, meaning they react quickly and strongly. Others are not very reactive at all.
- Flammability: This is the ability of a substance to burn or catch fire. For example, wood is flammable, but water is not.
- Toxicity: This refers to how harmful a substance can be to living things. A toxic substance can cause illness or even death.
Changes in a Substance's Structure
- Chemical stability: This describes how likely a substance is to break down or change into other substances. A very stable substance will not easily change.
- Oxidation states: This relates to how many electrons an atom can gain, lose, or share when it forms chemical bonds. It helps us understand how atoms combine.
