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Melting and freezing are reversible changes. This means that if we undo the change, we can get back the materials we started with.  A good example of this is ice and water.

 

melting ice

 

Ice melts into water, but we can turn it back into ice by putting it into the freezer, where it will freeze.

 

Remember that in science, material means any solid, liquid or gas that you can detect using your senses!  Non-reversible changes result in a new and different material.

 

A birthday cake is a good example of a new material.  We mix together eggs, butter, flour and sugar, add heat and enjoy! 

 

stirring cake mixture

 

 

 But... we cannot reverse the changes. 'Cake' cannot be changed back into the ingredients that we started with. We wouldn't want to anyway!

 

Birthday cake

 

Many non-reversible changes are caused by heating

 

cake with candles

 

So, let's find out about non-reversible changes.

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