Chemistry · Chapter 5

Break Bonds, Make Bonds

Take a reaction the long way round. Snap every reactant bond to get free atoms, then build the products. The running total is the reaction enthalpy.

The climb and the dropone bond per press

energy Break a bond to start the climb.
bonds broken0
bonds formed0
running total0

Pick a reaction

0kJ so far breaking
Phase 1 · break every reactant bond
Phase 2 · form the product bonds

What the numbers say

READY
Nothing broken yet
Breaking a bond always takes energy in, so every press in phase one raises the total.

Table values are average bond energies in kJ/mol, so the finished estimate lands near the measured enthalpy rather than exactly on it.