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Asked by halibean123 to Anna, Chris, Jane, Iain, Nick on 11 Mar 2014.
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Iain Moal answered on 11 Mar 2014:
I’ll start with the second question. Decomposition basically means falling apart. This could be biological decomposition, like when fruit rot, or chemical decomposition, where molecules split into their components.
The first question is very interesting, and strikes right at the heart of thermodynamics, one of the most important topics in chemistry. It might seem strange, but the answer is that a chemical reaction will occur whenever that reaction causes the disorder of the universe to increase. Sounds strange, right, but the plunging of the universe into chaos is what drives every physical process, including every chemical reactions that has occured and ever will.
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Chris Cole answered on 11 Mar 2014:
A chemical reaction occurs when the conditions are right for it happen. I know that sounds like a dumb answer, but that’s how it works. For example, you may need to heat something up in the presence of oxygen for the reaction to occur (e.g. like burning magnesium) or a reaction might occur spontaneously (e.g. when putting sodium in water). It just depends on the compounds (chemicals) in question.
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Anna Middleton answered on 11 Mar 2014:
Hi @halibean123
Chemical reactions occur everywhere! When you bake a cake and you mix four, eggs and milk they undergo a chemical reaction and mould themselves into a cake. ‘Decomposing’ is when the cake goes mouldy and breaks down. If you filmed this process and sped it up you’d see the cake collapsing and moving and mould growing on it – again a series of chemical reactions.
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