Question

How does a chemical change affect the composition of matter?

Answer 1

During a chemical change (chemical reaction), chemical bonds in the reactants are broken and the elements in the reactants are rearranged, forming new chemical bonds and forming products with a different composition than the reactants.

Explanation:

Examples:

`"2H"_2 + "O"_2"` `rarr` `"2H"_2"O"`

`"CH"_4+"2O"_2"` `rarr` `"CO"_2+"2H"_2"O"`

`"2Al + 3CuSO"_4` `rarr` `"3Cu + Al"_2("SO"_4)_3`

Notice that the number of each element is the same on both sides of the equation, but they are arranged differently. This shows that the elements are not destroyed in the process, they are just rearranged.