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Chapter 53: Problem 8

Under what conditions can an endothermic reaction occur naturally? Explain your reasoning.

Short Answer

Expert verified
An endothermic reaction can occur naturally when the overall system entropy, which includes the surroundings and the reaction system, increases. This is a direct application of the second law of thermodynamics.

Step by step solution

01

Understand endothermic reactions

Endothermic reactions are those chemical reactions which absorb heat energy from the surroundings. During such reactions, the energy of the reactants is lower than that of the products which implies that the products are less stable than the reactants. This is opposite to exothermic reactions.
02

Understand the second law of thermodynamics

The second law of thermodynamics states that the total entropy of an isolated system can never decrease over time, and is constant if and only if all processes are reversible. An increase in entropy can be thought of intuitively as a tendency for a system to evolve towards a state of higher disorder.
03

Apply the principles

For an endothermic reaction, which is essentially a 'heat-absorbing' process, to occur naturally, it must be accompanied by an increase in the entropy of the system and its surroundings. This is because, according to the second law of thermodynamics, total entropy cannot decrease. Thus, any process that would reduce total entropy is not naturally viable.
04

Cite specific examples

For instance, the dissolution of ammonium nitrate in water is an endothermic process. Even though this reaction requires to be supplied with heat (is endothermic), it still occurs naturally. This is because the resulting increase in disorder due to the formation of more particles (NH4+ and NO3- ions from the solid NH4NO3) leads to an increase in total entropy of the system.

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Do you expect \(\Delta S\) to be positive or negative for the melting of ice? Explain your reasoning.

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