How does Exothermic and Endothermic reactions affect the rate of a reaction?
Please help. I need something that will be easy for me to understand and adopt into my own words.
Thank You :)
Since this is not my area of expertise, I searched Google under the key words "Exothermic Endothermic reactions" to get these possible sources:
https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=Exothermic+Endothermic+reactions&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&gws_rd=ssl
In the future, you can find the information you desire more quickly, if you use appropriate key words to do your own search. Also see http://hanlib.sou.edu/searchtools/.
Exothermic and endothermic reactions can indeed affect the rate of a reaction. Let's break it down into simpler terms.
An exothermic reaction releases heat energy into its surroundings, while an endothermic reaction absorbs heat energy from its surroundings.
When it comes to the rate of a reaction, temperature plays a crucial role. Increasing the temperature typically increases the rate of a reaction, and vice versa.
For exothermic reactions:
- If the reaction is exothermic and the temperature is increased, additional heat is released. This increase in heat can provide the necessary activation energy for the reaction to occur more quickly. As a result, the rate of the reaction increases.
- Conversely, if the temperature is decreased, less heat is released. In this case, the available energy for the reaction decreases, which leads to a slower rate of reaction.
For endothermic reactions:
- If the reaction is endothermic and the temperature is increased, the reaction absorbs additional heat energy from the surroundings. This increased energy availability promotes a higher rate of reaction.
- On the other hand, if the temperature is decreased, less heat is absorbed by the reaction. Consequently, the reaction has less energy to work with, resulting in a slower rate of reaction.
To summarize, for both exothermic and endothermic reactions, an increase in temperature generally increases the rate of reaction, while a decrease in temperature typically decreases the rate of reaction.