2.2.3—Energy and matter transformation

A transfer changes location; a transformation changes form or chemical identity.

Ask whether the substance or energy form changed. Photosynthesis transforms; moving food from plant to herbivore is a transfer.

CO₂ entering a leaf is a matter transfer; photosynthesis transforms CO₂ and water into glucose and oxygen.

Transfer: location changes, but the glucose remains the same compound.

Movement alone does not make a process a transformation.