lesson

A physical change keeps the substance

1 · Learn

Melting and freezing change arrangement and motion without changing the chemical identity of the substance. Evaporation occurs at a liquid's surface and can happen below its boiling point; boiling occurs throughout the liquid at its boiling temperature for the stated pressure.

During a pure substance's melting at constant pressure, energy transfer can change state without raising temperature. A simplified heating curve must label both temperature and time or energy supplied.

Melting/freezingEvaporation at surfaceBoiling throughoutIdentity retained
Key words and supplied examples.

2 · Worked example

Water evaporating from a puddle is not necessarily boiling. It remains water in the gas state rather than disappearing into nothing.

3 · Your turn

Does evaporation require every liquid to reach its boiling point first?

Check your answer

No. Surface evaporation can occur below the boiling point.

4 · Apply your learning

Interpret a supplied heating curve and distinguish a temperature rise from a state-change interval.

Adult guidance and safety

Use supplied data and diagrams unless a qualified adult has approved the practical, equipment and risk assessment. No tasting substances, culturing unknown microbes, mains electricity, flames or hazardous chemical experiments at home. Models simplify reality; ask which assumptions affect the conclusion.

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Check a calculation · Year 5 onward

Use this only when your teacher or adult allows a calculator for the task. Show your thinking first. It does not replace mental or written arithmetic and does not mark your lesson answer.

Powers, roots and trigonometry · Year 7 onward

Use only when the task allows a calculator. Choose one operation at a time and record your working. Trigonometry here always uses degrees (DEG), not radians. Inverse sine, cosine and tangent return an angle, not a reciprocal. Keep exact fractions and π in answers when requested.

Approximate numerical results use up to 12 significant digits. Inverse sine returns −90° to 90°, inverse cosine 0° to 180°, and inverse tangent −90° to 90°; these are principal values, not every possible solution of a trigonometric equation.

My observation notebook

Follow your teacher's approved method and safety instructions. Record the sample or supplied dataset, conditions, measurements with units and uncertainties where appropriate. Distinguish observations from explanations. A described experiment is not permission to carry it out; do not improvise equipment or invent missing results.

Ask your teacher for support with the method and recording. A prediction is what you think might happen; an observation is what you actually see, hear or feel safely.

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