A change of state (like melting, freezing, boiling, or condensing) is a physical change.

It is called a physical change because:

  • The substance stays the same chemically (water is still water whether it is ice, liquid, or steam).
  • Only its physical form (solid, liquid, gas) and energy change.
  • It is usually reversible: you can freeze water, then melt the ice back to liquid, then boil it to steam.

Example:
Ice melting into liquid water is a change of state from solid to liquid, and it is a physical change because the particles are still H₂O, just arranged and moving differently.

Quick Scoop: Key Points

  • Type of change: Physical change.
  • What’s changing: State (solid, liquid, gas), not the substance itself.
  • Reversible?: Yes, with heating or cooling.
  • Common changes of state:
    • Melting – solid to liquid.
* Freezing – liquid to solid.

* Evaporation/boiling – liquid to gas.

* Condensation – gas to liquid.

* Sublimation – solid to gas.

* Deposition – gas to solid.

In science homework or exams, if they ask “What type of change is a change of state?”, the safe, one-line answer is:
“A change of state is a physical change.”

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.