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College Board AP Chemistry Your notes

6.2 Energy Diagrams

Contents
Energy Diagrams

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Energy Diagrams
Your notes
Energy Diagrams
The energy changes that accompany physical and chemical processes can be described with an
energy diagram
The difference between the energy of the products and those of the reactants gives the overall energy
change of the reaction
For an exothermic process, the reactants are at a higher energy than the products
For an endothermic process, the reactants are at a higher energy than the products
Endothermic reactions
For endothermic reactions, heat is absorbed by the system from the surroundings
An example of this is the thermal decomposition of mercury(II) oxide, HgO:
2HgO (s) + energy → 2Hg (l) + O2 (g)
In the reaction above, the difference between the energy of the products and the energy of the
reactants is equal to the heat supplied to the system by the surroundings
Observe that energy is a part of the reactant in the equation
Endothermic Reactions

Energy profile for the thermal decomposition of mercury (II) oxide

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Exothermic reactions
For exothermic reactions, a considerable amount of heat is released from the system to the Your notes
surroundings
A good example is the combustion of hydrogen gas to produce water
2H2 (g) + O2 (g) → 2H2O (l) + energy
In representing exothermic reactions, energy is included as a part of the products
Exothermic Reactions

Energy profile for the combustion of hydrogen gas to give water

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Worked example
Your notes
Consider the process illustrated by the figure below. Is the process endothermic or exothermic?

Answer:
The process is endothermic because heat is added to the system to raise the temperature of water

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