Year 5 - Science

Date: 21st Nov 2025 @ 10:59am

We have been learning about irreversible changes in science. Last week, we looked at the three things needed for a fire and discussed what would happen if one of them was missing. We used jars to reduce the amount of oxygen and observed the results. This helped us understand that combustion is an irreversible change. We also observed how the flame was extinguished when the oxygen supply was reduced. As the jar covered the candle, the flame began to shrink and eventually went out because it no longer had enough oxygen to keep burning. This demonstrated that all three elements of the fire triangle—heat, fuel, and oxygen—are essential, and removing even one will stop the fire.

This week, we investigated different substances to find out whether they were acidic, neutral, or alkaline. We then poured vinegar (an acid) into bicarbonate of soda (an alkali) to see what would happen. We observed a chemical reaction and learned what occurs when acids and alkalis mix.