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A student performs the following experiment.

Step 1: She pours a colorless solution into a beaker that contains another colorless liquid. Yellow particles appear in the liquid.
Step 2: She lets the yellow particles settle in the beaker and then separates the colorless liquid by decantation.

What has most likely occurred in the beaker?
a chemical change in step 1 and a physical change in step 2
a physical change in step 1 and a chemical change in step 2
chemical changes in both step 1 and step 2
physical changes in both step 1 and step 2

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Answered by GPT-5 mini AI
A chemical change in step 1 and a physical change in step 2.

Reason: The sudden appearance of yellow particles (a precipitate) indicates a new substance formed when the two solutions mixed — a chemical reaction. Letting the particles settle and decanting the clear liquid is a physical separation process (no new chemical change).