When you light a candle, the paraffin wax soon begins to melt. Paraffin wax is a covalent compound. Can you classify the melting of the wax as a chemical change or a physical change? If so, which is it? If you cannot classify it as chemical or physical, explain why not. Justify your answer by describing the forces involved in the change.

Question

I am not sure how to answer this because while the burning of the candle is chemical, melting is just a physical change...

Answer 1

I think you should write it down as a physical change because here they are asking about the wax and not the thread or string in the middle.

Answer 2

Paraffin wax is a covalent compound, so when it melts the molecules simply pull away from each other, leaving the bonds intact, because of this Parffin wax melting is a physical change.