Is Dissolving Sugar in Water a Physical or Chemical Reaction?

The act of sugar dissolving in water is a physical change. Physical change is defined as when a substance changes form without changing chemical structure, and chemical change is defined as the change in chemical bonds.
  1. The Confusing Part

    • The confusing part is due to that fact that sugar dissolving in water is forming hydrogen bonds between the water and sucrose molecules. While this is a intermolecular bond, it is not a breaking or forming of a chemical bond.

    Examples of Physical Changes

    • Example of physical changes are water boiling from liquid into vapor form, and water freezing from liquid into solid form.

    Example of Chemical Changes

    • Examples of chemical change are combustion and respiration. Whenever atoms bond to each other differently through either breaking, forming, or breaking/forming chemical bonds this is a chemical change. If just the physical form is changed, then this is a physical change.

    The Reverse is True

    • The reverse of a chemical reaction is always another chemical reaction, and the reverse of a physical reaction is always a physical reaction. The opposite of respiration is photosynthesis and the opposite of freezing is melting.

    Nuclear Reactions

    • The reaction of Fusion and Fission are defined as neither physical or chemical changes, they are the breaking and forming of internuclear forces, not chemical or intermolecular bonds.

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