A silvery metal is put inside a beaker of water. Bubbles form on the surface of the metal and it dissolves gradually. (a) Is this an example of a chemical or a physical change?

Video transcript

Hi everyone today, we have a question telling us that a small piece of metal is placed in a beaker of water, where the metal burst into flames before gradually dissolving in water, determine if this is a physical or chemical change. So let's remember our definitions here in a chemical change. The composition is changed by the process. In a physical change, the composition is not changed. In this case we have a metal reacting with water and it is forming a hydroxide and hydrogen gas, so our composition is being changed by the process. So our answer is a chemical change. Thank you for watching. Bye.