CHEMICAL ENERGETICS

Physical change
 Physical changes (such as melting or evaporating) do not produce any new chemical substances
 These changes are often easy to reverse
 Making a mixture from 2 or more substances or dissolving a solute in a solvent are examples of physical changes as no new
substances are produced and are usually relatively easy to separate
Chemical change
 During chemical changes (usually referred to as chemical reactions), new chemical substances are formed that have very
different properties to the reactants
 There may be signs that a new substance has formed, such as:
o A colour change
o A precipitate being formed
o Bubbles of gas being produced/Evolution of gas
o Change in temperature
o Change in state
 Most chemical reactions are very difficult to reverse
 Energy changes also accompany chemical changes and energy can be given out (exothermic) or taken in (endothermic)
o The majority of chemical reactions are exothermic with only a small number being endothermic.
EXOTHERMIC AND ENDOTHERMIC REACTIONS
•A catalyst is a substance that can be added to a reaction to increasing the reaction rate without getting
consumed in the process.
•Catalysts typically speed up the reaction by lowering the activation energy for both forward and backward
reactions.
•Catalyst provides an alternative pathway with lower activation energy to carry out the reaction which leads
to an increase in the rate of reaction.

Therefore, Catalysts generally lower the rate of the reaction.

Exothermic and Endothermic Reactions
Exothermic Reactions release heat
Chemical energy of reactants is larger than products

Endothermic Reactions absorb heat

Chemical energy of reactants is smaller than the products