Question

A chemist wants to observe the following reaction

2H2+O2->2H2O
The chemist is standing inside a room with oxygen in the air and has a balloon filled with hydrogen. The chemist holds a small flame up to the hydrogen balloon when the balloon pops the hydrogen explodes in a ball of fire.
based on what you know about breaking and forming bonds, explain which part of the reaction is higher and energy. defend your answer in 3 to 5 sentences

Answer 1

[AI-generated answer — Bot GPT 3.5]

In this reaction, the breaking of the hydrogen and oxygen bonds to form the reactants, H2 and O2, requires energy input. This is because breaking bonds involves overcoming the attractive forces between the atoms in the molecules. On the other hand, the formation of water molecules from hydrogen and oxygen bonds releases energy as new, more stable bonds are formed. Therefore, the breaking of the initial bonds (H2 and O2) is higher in energy compared to the formation of the final bonds (H2O) in this reaction. This difference in energy is what drives the overall exothermic nature of the reaction, leading to the explosive release of energy in the form of a fireball.