Question

WILL MEDAL AND FAN!

1. What would a potential energy diagram look like for an exothermic reaction? Explain.

2. Think about visiting the beach on a hot day. Predict whether sand or water has a higher specific heat and explain your prediction.

Answer 1

Do exothermic reactions release into, or absorb energy from, the environment?

Answer 2

It releases energy by light or heat.

Answer 3

The energy had to come from somewhere, right?

Potential energy is the energy based on the arrangement of atoms in a molecule - based on repulsion of neighbouring electrons. When these get moved around (bonds broken and formed) the new configurations have a different potential energy associated with it.

When energy is released into the environment, the potential energy of a molecule (or molecules) participating that chemical reaction has had to decrease. So in an energy scale the products would be lower than the reactants.

Answer 4

Okay, thank you so much. :)

Answer 5

Could you help me with #2? I have no clue how to answer that. My Chemistry teacher is poor at explaining things and I don't know which would have the higher specific heat.

Answer 6

Specific heat capacity is a number that indicates how quickly or slowly a substance gains or loses thermal energy (heat).

If you had a thin layer of sand, and a thin layer of water, and you put them both under the sun, which one would get hot (so you couldnt walk on) faster?