When a chemical reaction takes place, a new substance is formed. This new substance has different properties than the original substances.

Let's look at an example. Table salt is also known as sodium chloride (NaCl). As you can see from the chemical formula, it is made up of sodium and chlorine. The table below shows the properties of sodium and chlorine.

Properties of Sodium		Properties of Chlorine
soft solid silvery-white in color highly reactive		gas green-yellow in color extremely poisonous reacts with many compounds containing hydrogen