Why is rusting a chemical change

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ACS-Hach Programs Learn about financial support for future and current high school chemistry teachers. Reactions viewer Peter Sterckx asked us, "Why do metal things corrode? No chemical reaction occurs. Pictured below are the substances involved in this reaction.

The reaction between zinc and sulfur can be depicted in something called a chemical equation. In words, we could write the reaction as:. A more convenient way to express a chemical reaction is to use the symbols and formulas of the substances involved:. The substance s to the left of the arrow in a chemical equation are called reactants. A reactant is a substance that is present at the start of a chemical reaction.

The substance s to the right of the arrow are called products. A product is a substance that is present at the end of a chemical reaction. In the equation above, zinc and sulfur are the reactants that chemically combine to form zinc sulfide as a product. How can you tell if a chemical reaction is taking place? Certain visual clues indicate that a chemical reaction is likely but not necessarily occurring, including the following examples:. When zinc reacts with hydrochloric acid, the reaction bubbles vigorously as hydrogen gas is produced see figure below.

Here is the word equation for the reaction:. Iron and steel rust when they come into contact with water and oxygen — both are needed for rusting to occur. In the experiment below, the nail does not rust when air containing oxygen or water is not present:.

If zinc is mixed at room temperature with powdered sulfur S , a bright yellow element, the result will simply be a mixture of zinc and sulfur. No chemical reaction occurs. However, if energy is provided to the mixture in the form of heat, the zinc will chemically react with the sulfur to form the compound zinc sulfide ZnS.

The figure below shows the substances involved in this reaction. Zinc and sulfur are two elements that undergo a chemical reaction when heated to from the compound zinc sulfide.

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