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Safety precautions
When scientists carry out experiments, they have to take

safety precautions. This is to make sure that they minimize the
risk of harming themselves, other people and the environment.
What kind of safety

precautions should
you take in the lab?
What kind of safety

precautions should
chemists working in
industrial labs take?

What are hazard symbols?
When working in a lab, how can you tell which chemicals are
safe and which are dangerous?
Hazard labels are used on containers and vehicles that
contain dangerous chemicals.
toxic irritant harmful corrosive flammable

These hazard symbols show why the chemical is dangerous.
Why is it important that symbols are used, rather than words?

What do hazard symbols mean?

What do hazard symbols mean?

Everyday reactions
Chemical reactions happen all around us, not just in the lab.
cooking sticking burning
making materials rusting living

Can you think of more everyday chemical reactions?

How can you spot a chemical reaction?
Lots of changes happen in chemical reactions.
You might recognize that a chemical reaction is happening

because the substances involved:
 change colour
 give off a gas
 get hot
 get cold
 give out light
 make smells
 form solids.

Chemical reactions are hard to reverse
Chemical reactions are usually difficult to reverse.
For example, magnesium burns in oxygen to form magnesium

oxide. It is not at all easy to ‘un-burn’ the magnesium once it
has been burnt.
magnesium + oxygen  magnesium oxide
Many reactions need an input of energy to get them started.

This is called activation energy.
Many reactions (like the burning of magnesium) also release

energy once the reaction has started.

Odd-one-out

Non-useful chemical reactions
Chemical reactions in food cause

it to decay, making it unsafe to eat.
Chemical reactions like these are

a nuisance, but other reactions
can even be dangerous.
The reaction between iron and

oxygen causes the metal to become
rusty, which weakens the structure
and makes it dangerous to use.
Factories sometimes produce waste gases that pollute the

atmosphere. These gases cause acid rain and might
contribute to the greenhouse effect.

Useful chemical reactions

More useful chemical reactions
Chemists carry out chemical reactions to produce new

substances that improve people’s lives.

The chemistry of food
There are many chemical reactions involved in our food: how

many can you think of?
 cooking
 ripening fruit
 food going mouldy
 making fertilizers and pesticides
 photosynthesis for plants to grow
 digestion when you eat food
 fermentation to make bread, beer and wine.

Cooking
Cooking involves chemical reactions. Changes in colour, taste

and texture are due to the molecules in food joining together in
new ways.
Cooking an
egg changes
its texture from
runny to firm.
Eggs contain a protein called albumen. The protein molecules

are long chains of amino acids folded into a ball shape.
When eggs are heated, some of the proteins break apart

and the molecules unfold. These molecules then join to other
nearby protein molecules until they are all linked in a network.

Making bread and alcohol
Yeast is a living organism that carries out the chemical

reactions that are used for making bread and alcohol.
Yeast uses oxygen from the air for aerobic respiration.
sugar + oxygen  carbon dioxide + water

C6H12O6 6O2 6CO2 6H2O
What effect do you think the carbon dioxide gas has on the
bread?
Yeast can also carry out respiration without oxygen. This is

called anaerobic respiration, or fermentation. This is used to
produce the alcohol in beer and wine.

Ripening fruit
The ripening of fruit is a complex collection of chemical

reactions. Take apples as an example:
 Starch is broken down into sugars, increasing sweetness.
 Acids are neutralized,
making the apples less sour.
 Chlorophyll (green) changes
to anthocyanin (red).
 Pectin, a chemical that makes
apples hard, is broken down,
making the apples softer.
Why do food producers and supermarkets need to know
about the conditions and reactions involved in ripening fruit?

What causes ripening?
The ripening of all fruit and vegetables involves similar chemical

reactions.
The speed of ripening is affected by

the temperature and by the presence
of a chemical called ethene, C2H4.
Food scientists can tell producers

and supermarkets the best
conditions for slowing down or
speeding up the ripening process
so that fruit and vegetables arrive
in the shops perfectly ripe.

Food spoilage
The changes that take place as food ‘spoils’ are also caused
by chemical reactions.
For example, peeled apples turn brown when exposed to

the air because they react with oxygen in the air.
Knowing what causes this reaction

can help to slow it down.
Placing sliced apples in water

prevents browning because the
apples are no longer exposed to air.
The chemical ascorbic acid (vitamin C), which is found in

lemon juice, is also known to prevent the browning reaction.

Chemistry and cleaning
Grease and oil on clothing, cutlery, skin and hair are difficult
to remove with just water, because oil and water do not mix.
Adding soap allows the oil and water to mix.
Soap molecules
have two ends: head of molecule
one end is bonds to water
attracted to the molecules
water molecules;
the other end is tail of molecule
attracted to the bonds to oil
oil molecules. molecules

Chemistry and cosmetics
The ingredients in cosmetics like makeup, shampoo and fake

tan are made by chemical reactions. Many of the ingredients
in these products are made from crude oil.
Is it sustainable to use ingredients like these?

Chemistry and medicine
The medicines that we take are all made by chemists. Many

medicines started out as natural products, which came from
living things:
 aspirin – from the bark of willow trees
 penicillin – from mould
 morphine – from poppies
 digoxin – from foxgloves.
Do you know what these
medicines are used for?
What do you think might be the advantages and disadvantages
of using drugs from plants and moulds?

Chemistry and computers
Materials scientists are chemists who research new materials

for things like computers.
screen – to
give out light electric
wires –
casing – made of tough,
to carry
mouldable plastic
electricity
silicon chips – to
paints and inks – for the
store and transfer
letters on the keys
information

Reactants and products
In a chemical reaction, one or more new substances are

always formed.
The starting substances used in a reaction are the reactants.
The new substances formed in a reaction are the products.
reactants products
The arrow means ‘change into’. In a chemical reaction, the

reactants change into the products.
It is often difficult to reverse a chemical reaction and change

the products back into the reactants.

Word equations
A word equation is a quick, shorthand way of writing a chemical

reaction.
There are always three parts to a word equation:
 the names of the reactants

 an arrow
 the names of the products.
What is the word equation for hydrogen reacting with oxygen

to form water?
hydrogen + oxygen  water

Reactant or product?
In this chemical reaction, which substances are the reactants

and which substances are the products?
copper magnesium
magnesium + oxide
 oxide + copper
substance reactant or product?

magnesium oxide product
magnesium reactant
copper oxide reactant
copper product

Write the word equations
1. Magnesium burns brightly in oxygen to form magnesium
oxide.
2. Calcium hydroxide reacts with hydrochloric acid to
form calcium chloride and water.
calcium hydrochloric calcium
hydroxide
+ acid

chloride
+ water
3. Sodium reacts with hydrochloric acid to form sodium
chloride and hydrogen.
hydrochloric sodium
sodium + acid

chloride + hydrogen

Mass during a reaction

Why doesn’t the mass change?
In chemical reactions, no atoms can be made or destroyed.

Chemical reactions just change how the atoms are bonded
together.

What happens to the mass?

Why did the mass increase?
In the reaction between magnesium and oxygen, the mass

increased.
This is because the magnesium atoms joined up with oxygen
atoms.

+
What is the word equation for this reaction?

What happens to the mass?

Why did the mass decrease?
The mass of the copper carbonate decreased

as it was heated because it decomposed to
form copper oxide and carbon dioxide.
What is the word equation for this reaction?
Why did the mass decrease?
The mass decreased because the carbon

dioxide gas escaped out into the air.
Can you calculate the mass

of carbon dioxide that was
produced in the reaction?

Chemical reactions – true or false?

Glossary

Anagrams

Multiple-choice quiz

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1 of 40 © Boardworks Ltd 2008

2 of 40 © Boardworks Ltd 2008

When scientists carry out experiments, they have to take

What kind of safety

What kind of safety

3 of 40 © Boardworks Ltd 2008

toxic irritant harmful corrosive flammable

4 of 40 © Boardworks Ltd 2008

5 of 40 © Boardworks Ltd 2008

6 of 40 © Boardworks Ltd 2008

cooking sticking burning

making materials rusting living

8 of 40 © Boardworks Ltd 2008

Lots of changes happen in chemical reactions.

You might recognize that a chemical reaction is happening

9 of 40 © Boardworks Ltd 2008

Chemical reactions are usually difficult to reverse.

For example, magnesium burns in oxygen to form magnesium

magnesium + oxygen  magnesium oxide

Many reactions need an input of energy to get them started.

Many reactions (like the burning of magnesium) also release

10 of 40 © Boardworks Ltd 2008

11 of 40 © Boardworks Ltd 2008

Chemical reactions in food cause

Chemical reactions like these are

The reaction between iron and

Factories sometimes produce waste gases that pollute the

12 of 40 © Boardworks Ltd 2008

13 of 40 © Boardworks Ltd 2008

Chemists carry out chemical reactions to produce new

14 of 40 © Boardworks Ltd 2008

There are many chemical reactions involved in our food: how

15 of 40 © Boardworks Ltd 2008

Cooking involves chemical reactions. Changes in colour, taste

Eggs contain a protein called albumen. The protein molecules

When eggs are heated, some of the proteins break apart

16 of 40 © Boardworks Ltd 2008

Yeast is a living organism that carries out the chemical

Yeast uses oxygen from the air for aerobic respiration.

sugar + oxygen  carbon dioxide + water

Yeast can also carry out respiration without oxygen. This is

17 of 40 © Boardworks Ltd 2008

The ripening of fruit is a complex collection of chemical

18 of 40 © Boardworks Ltd 2008

The ripening of all fruit and vegetables involves similar chemical

The speed of ripening is affected by

Food scientists can tell producers

19 of 40 © Boardworks Ltd 2008

For example, peeled apples turn brown when exposed to

Knowing what causes this reaction

Placing sliced apples in water

The chemical ascorbic acid (vitamin C), which is found in

20 of 40 © Boardworks Ltd 2008

Adding soap allows the oil and water to mix.

21 of 40 © Boardworks Ltd 2008

The ingredients in cosmetics like makeup, shampoo and fake

22 of 40 © Boardworks Ltd 2008

The medicines that we take are all made by chemists. Many

23 of 40 © Boardworks Ltd 2008