Year 5 - Science
Burning: an irreversible change
Properties, changes and separating materials
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This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
This unit explores the properties of everyday materials, including hardness, solubility, and conductivity. It covers reversible changes like dissolving and mixing, and irreversible changes such as burning. Emphasis is on scientific enquiries, data recording, and presenting findings with evidence.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to describe burning as an irreversible change, where a new material is formed.
Key Notes
- When a substance burns, it produces a flame.
- For burning to take place there has to be fuel, oxygen and a high enough temperature.
- When things burn, new materials are usually formed.
- Burning is a change that cannot be reversed.
- Burning materials can be observed closely as they change over time.
Vocabulary To Learn
- burn: To burn is to be on fire.
- new material: A new material is formed when a starting material goes through an irreversible change.
- irreversible change: If a change is irreversible, it cannot be undone or changed back to its original state.
- observe: To observe is to look very closely and use other senses too.
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Burning, heating and melting are the same. Smoke and water vapour are the same.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain the scientific idea in this lesson using two key points.
When a substance burns, it produces a flame. For burning to take place there has to be fuel, oxygen and a high enough temperature.
2. Define this scientific word and use it in context. 'burn'
To burn is to be on fire. Include the word in a full scientific explanation, not as a single label.
3. Correct this common scientific misunderstanding.
Mistake: Burning, heating and melting are the same. Smoke and water vapour are the same. Correction: Slides teach that heating and melting are reversible changes because the original materials can be recovered but that, with burning, the original materials cannot be recovered. The difference between smoke and water vapour is also taught.
More Lessons In This Unit
- Bioplastics (non-statutory Climate Change & Sustainability) Study Guide
- Burning plants as fuel (non-statutory Climate Change & Sustainability) Study Guide
- Everyday uses of thermal insulators Study Guide
- Greenhouse gases (non-statutory Climate Change & Sustainability) Study Guide
- How scientists work Study Guide
- Insulating our homes and schools (non-statutory Climate Change & Sustainability) Study Guide
- More irreversible changes Study Guide
- More reversible changes Study Guide
- Properties of materials Study Guide
- Providing safe drinking water (non-statutory Climate Change & Sustainability) Study Guide
- Recovering insoluble solids Study Guide
- Removing salt from seawater (non-statutory) Study Guide
- Reversible changes of state Study Guide
- Rusting: an irreversible change Study Guide
- Separating soluble solids from solutions Study Guide
- Soluble and insoluble Study Guide
- Thermal insulators: do and review Study Guide
- Thermal insulators: plan Study Guide
- Uses of everyday materials Study Guide
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