Different Ways to Bring a Change

We all have heard the saying “change is the only constant”. Have you ever sincerely meditated upon this question? If you did, you will realize that in fact, change is all around us. Whether we are conscious of it or not. We keep witnessing it on a daily basis. Whether it is day changing to night or water turning to ice. Some changes take a shorter while to happen while others take longer. Let us know more about it.

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What is a Change?

Let us now try and define change for the purpose of science. We can define it as an act by which a thing forms or becomes different than its previous self. For instance, when ice melts, it changes into water. Therefore it turns its form from solid to liquid.

It may be classified under the following:

Slow Changes

These are the kinds of changes that will happen over a period of time slowly. For instance, a boy becoming a man is an example of this as it happens over the years.

Fast Changes

As the name suggests, these changes occur sooner. For instance, a batter turning into pudding. It will take hardly a few minutes for a liquid batter to turn into a pudding.

Periodic Changes

These are the changes that keep happening at certain intervals of time. Time is the biggest example of it. Every day we get twenty-four hours and after the periodic interval, the time on the clock is repeated again. Another example of this can be that of weather. They keep coming after a certain interval of time.

Non-periodic Changes

The changes that occur once are non-periodic changes. Unlike periodic changes that have a set time of coming and going non-periodic changes have no such set time. For instance, a random rainy day during summers may be considered a non-periodic change. It changes the weather for a day but it is not a periodic change.

Reversible Change

Those changes which may be reversed are reversible changes. For instance, changing water to ice and vice versa will be categorized under this.

Irreversible Change

A change that becomes permanent in nature is an irreversible change. For instance, when we burn paper it turns to ash and cannot be turned back to paper. Therefore, this is permanent.

Ways to Bring About a Change

Now the question arises, what makes a change occur? In other words, how can we bring about it? There are quite a few ways in which one can bring about a change in the form of an object. Some of these ways are listed below:

Temperature

Change can be caused due to a fluctuation or alteration in temperatures. Such a change in most cases changes the form of the object. Revisiting the example of water and ice, when water is exposed to a low temperature for over a period of time, it freezes and turns to ice.

Changing its form from liquid to solid state by causing the temperature to increase. Similarly, when we expose water to excessive heat, it turns into vapor, shifting from liquid to gas. Thus, we can say that temperature causes it.

Force

Sometimes we are able to change the form of an object by applying a certain degree of force to it. One of the best examples of this will be when a sculptor carves out a statue from a rock. He applies force to the rock with chisel and hammer causing the rock to take shape of a statue.

Similarly, a goldsmith uses force on the lump of gold to flatten it out and then create intricate jewellery out of it. Therefore we can say that force can bring a change.

Chemical Mixing

Some changes occur when you mix two chemicals together. For instance when you mix two chemical salts to create a new chemical salt, thereby changing its composition. Like when we mix one molecule of sodium to one molecule of chloride, we get sodium chloride which is the chemical term for common salt.

Similarly, when we mix two molecules of hydrogen with one molecule of oxygen, we get hydrogen dioxide, which is the chemical term for water. Hence we can conclude that chemical mixtures can also cause it.

Question For You

Q. What is a chemical change? Explain it with the help of an example?

Ans: Any change which is a result of mixing two chemical compounds to form a new chemical compound is known as a chemical change. Example of this can be that when you add four molecules of Sulphate to one molecule of Magnesium, it creates Magnesium Sulphate, that is more commonly known as the Epsom salt.