Question

Is cutting of trees physical change or a chemical change? Explain .

According to google it's chemical change .

Answer 1

The first criteria to distinguish between a physcial and chemical change is that if it affects the physical properties or chemical properties of a substance.
If it affects only physical properties like size,shape etc.. then it is definitely a physical change.
If it affects the chemical composition of the object then it is a chemical change and a new product of different chemical composition is formed in case of a chemical change.

Cutting of tree is a physical change beacuse it only affects the physical properties of a tree like its shape,size or height.Chemical composition of wood/tree doesnot change with cutting. No new substance with different chemical composition is formed here. So it is not a chemical change.

Some people say cutting of tree is a chemical change because it is irreversible.But the reversibility feature doesnot hold true for all physical changes.It's just that most of the physical changes are reversible. Cutting of wood or tree is an exception for that feature.

So, cutting of wood is a physical change.