A student performs this 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?

In step 1, yellow particles form when the two colorless solutions are mixed. The formation of a new solid is evidence of a chemical change. In step 2, settling and separating the liquid by decantation change only how the substances are arranged or separated, so that is a physical change. The best choice is a chemical change in step 1 and a physical change in step 2.

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