Question

Consider a beaker of water that has an initial temperature of 24 °c. When an ionic salt is dissolved in the water, the temperature changes to 45 °c. If you were to touch the beaker, it would feel ________ (hot or cold). The change in temperature illustrates that the reaction ________ (absorbed or released) energy. This reaction is said to be ________ (endothermic or exothermic). The energy of the reactants is ________ (higher or lower) than the energy of the products.

Answer 1

Touching the beaker in which an ionic salt has been dissolved causing a temperature increase to 45 °C would feel hot. The increase in temperature demonstrates that energy was released, indicating an exothermic reaction where the energy of the reactants was higher than that of the products.

Step-by-step explanation:

If an ionic salt is dissolved in water and the temperature changes from 24 °C to 45 °C, if you were to touch the beaker, it would feel hot. The change in temperature illustrates that the reaction released energy. This reaction is said to be exothermic. The energy of the reactants is higher than the energy of the products because in an exothermic reaction, energy is released to the surroundings, usually in the form of heat, resulting in the products having less energy than the reactants.