Physical Chemistry - Rates of Reaction (Paper 2)

Question 1

what does a reaction profile for an exothermic reaction look like?

Answer 1

• reactants are higher than products
• energy first needs to increase (activation energy) to start the reaction
• energy then decreases to the energy of the products

Question 2

what does a reaction profile for an endothermic reaction look like?

Answer 2

• products are higher than reactants
• energy needs to increase higher than products to start the reaction
• energy then decreases to the energy of the products