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Category
Thermochemistry
Summary
Thermochemistry is the study of the heat energy which is associated with chemical reactions and/or phase changes such as melting and boiling. A reaction may release or absorb energy, and a phase change may do the same. Thermochemistry focuses on the energy exchange between a system and its surroundings in the form of heat. Thermochemistry is useful in predicting reactant and product quantities throughout the course of a given reaction. In combination with entropy determinations, it is also used to predict whether a reaction is spontaneous or non-spontaneous, favorable or unfavorable.
Endothermic reactions absorb heat, while exothermic reactions release heat. Thermochemistry coalesces the concepts of thermodynamics with the concept of energy in the form of chemical bonds. The subject commonly includes calculations of such quantities as heat capacity, heat of combustion, heat of formation, enthalpy, entropy, and free energy.
Thermochemistry is one part of the broader field of chemical thermodynamics, which deals with the exchange of all forms of energy between system and surroundings, including not only heat but also various forms of work, as well the exchange of matter. When all forms of energy are considered, the concepts of exothermic and endothermic reactions are generalized to exergonic reactions and endergonic reactions.
Thermochemistry rests on two generalizations. Stated in modern terms, they are as follows:
Lavoisier and Laplace's law (1780): The energy change accompanying any transformation is equal and opposite to energy change accompanying the reverse process.
Hess' law of constant heat summation (1840): The energy change accompanying any transformation is the same whether the process occurs in one step or many.
These statements preceded the first law of thermodynamics (1845) and helped in its formulation.
Thermochemistry also involves the measurement of the latent heat of phase transitions. Joseph Black had already introduced the concept of latent heat in 1761, based on the observation that heating ice at its melting point did not raise the temperature but instead caused some ice to melt.
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