Reversible and Irreversible Changes

By the end of this unit, students will be able to:

• recognize and categorize common examples of reversible changes (e.g., melting ice, inflating a balloon, dissolving sugar in water)
• recognize and categorize common examples of irreversible changes (e.g., burning wood, frying and egg)
• Describe how reversible changes can be undone to revert to the original state (e.g., freezing water back into ice)
• describe how irreversible changes result in new substances or permanent transformations

Curriculum Alignment: Year 5 Science: Properties and changes of materials

• demonstrate that dissolving, mixing and changes of state are reversible changes
• explain that some changes result in the formation of new materials, and that this kind of change is not usually reversible, including changes associated with burning and the action of acid on bicarbonate of soda