Indicators of a chemical change

Indicators of a chemical change

Take some broken pieces of egg shell in a test tube and add lemon juice to it. You could see bubbles of carbon-di-oxide evolving in the test tube. This is because of the chemical change between the two. Hence, we can say that evolution of bubbles serve as an indicator that of a chemical change.

When water is added to quicklime (calcium oxide) there will be evolution of lot of heat along with the formation of slaked lime (calcium hydroxide). This is a chemical change and it is indicated by the evolution of heat when the reaction sets in between quicklime and water.

Every day we cook food stuffs and clean the empty cooking utensils. Suppose when we leave the cooked utensils with some cooked food and leave them without washing for a day, we could sense a foul-smell coming from the vessels the next day. This is because the food stuff had become rotten and produces a foul-smell. Here spoilage of food is a chemical change and it is indicated by the foul smell. So, change of odour is also an indicator of a chemical change.

When an iron nail is kept in water for a few days and taken out, the nail will become reddish brown in colour indicating that it has rusted. We know that rusting is a chemical change and it is indicated by a change in colour of the iron nail.

We know that hot milk curdles to form white lumps of curd when mixed with lemon juice. A lump of curd is the precipitate that is obtained by the chemical reaction between hot milk and lemon juice. So, formation of precipitate is also an indication of a chemical change.

To conclude, there can be evolution of bubbles, evolution of heat, change of odour, change in colour or formation of a precipitate that serve as indicators for us to understand that a chemical change had taken place.