* Physical Changes: These changes alter the form or appearance of a substance but don't change its chemical composition.
* Chemical Changes: These changes result in the formation of new substances with different chemical properties.
When sugar dissolves in tea:
* No new substance is formed: The sugar molecules simply spread out among the water molecules in the tea. You can still recover the sugar by evaporating the water.
* The sugar's chemical composition remains unchanged: It's still sucrose, just in a more dispersed state.
Key takeaway: The dissolving of sugar in tea is a physical change because the sugar's chemical makeup remains the same. It's just in a different physical state.