Chemical Kinetics and Thermodynamics Fundamentals
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Hess's Law and Enthalpy Diagrams
Hess's Law: If a reaction occurs at several stages, whether real or theoretical, the total enthalpy change is equal to the sum of the enthalpies of reaction of these intermediate reactions.
An enthalpy diagram represents the energies at play in a chemical reaction using activated complex theory. According to this theory, when the reactants approach, there is an intermediate state of high energy and short duration, which is the activated complex.
In these diagrams, we can represent the activation energy, which is the energy needed for reactant molecules to absorb to form the activated complex. A slow reaction has a high activation energy, while a quick reaction will have a low activation energy.