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If the products are higher in chemical energy than the reactants then the reaction will require energy to be performed and is therefore an endergonic reaction. Additionally if the product is less stable than a reactant, then Leffler's assumption holds that the transition state will more closely resemble the product than the reactant. [6]
In theoretical chemistry, an energy profile is a theoretical representation of a chemical reaction or process as a single energetic pathway as the reactants are transformed into products. This pathway runs along the reaction coordinate , which is a parametric curve that follows the pathway of the reaction and indicates its progress; thus ...
Hess's law states that the change of enthalpy in a chemical reaction is the same regardless of whether the reaction takes place in one step or several steps, provided the initial and final states of the reactants and products are the same. Enthalpy is an extensive property, meaning that its value is proportional to the system size. [4]
The transition state, represented by the double dagger symbol represents the exact configuration of atoms that has an equal probability of forming either the reactants or products of the given reaction. [5] The activation energy is the minimum amount of energy to initiate a chemical reaction and form the activated complex. [6]
Thus, during any chemical reaction and low-energy thermodynamic processes in an isolated system, the total mass of the reactants, or starting materials, must be equal to the mass of the products. The concept of mass conservation is widely used in many fields such as chemistry, mechanics, and fluid dynamics.
Thermodynamically, a chemical reaction occurs because the products (taken as a group) are at a lower free energy than the reactants; the lower energy state is referred to as the "more stable state." Quantum chemistry provides the most in-depth and exact understanding of the reason this occurs.
The theory assumes the reaction system will pass over the lowest energy saddle point on the potential energy surface. While this description is consistent for reactions occurring at relatively low temperatures, at high temperatures, molecules populate higher energy vibrational modes; their motion becomes more complex and collisions may lead to ...
Reactants and products are formed at such a rate that the concentration of neither changes. It is a particular example of a system in a steady state. In physics, concerning thermodynamics, a closed system is in thermodynamic equilibrium when reactions occur at such rates that the composition of the mixture does not change with time. Reactions ...