Is melting endothermic or exothermic?
Things that are melting are taking on heat, endothermic
Would freezing be the same?
No, of course not. If melting is endothermic, then freezing must be exothermic. Believe it or not, and I know it sounds goofy, freezing water to ice is an exothermic process.
wow... this was made 2 years after my birth, crazy how the internet works
To understand why freezing is exothermic, we need to dive into the concept of heat transfer. When a substance changes state from a solid to a liquid, like ice melting into water, it requires energy in the form of heat. This is known as an endothermic process because the substance is absorbing heat from its surroundings.
On the other hand, when a substance changes state from a liquid to a solid, like water freezing into ice, it releases energy in the form of heat. This release of heat is an exothermic process because the substance is giving off heat to its surroundings.
The reason behind this lies in the intermolecular forces between the particles of the substance. In a solid, these forces are strong and hold the particles tightly together in a fixed arrangement. When heat is added, it provides energy to break these intermolecular forces, allowing the particles to move more freely and become a liquid.
However, in a liquid state, the particles are already more loosely arranged, so they have more kinetic energy and are moving more rapidly. When heat is removed, the intermolecular forces become stronger, and the particles begin to slow down and come closer together, forming a solid.
This release of energy during freezing is what makes it an exothermic process. It is important to note that the energy being released is the same energy that was initially absorbed when the substance melted. Thus, freezing and melting are opposite processes, with one being endothermic and the other being exothermic.
So, to summarize, while melting is an endothermic process because it absorbs heat from the surroundings, freezing is an exothermic process because it releases heat to the surroundings.