When energy is 'lost' during a chemical or physical process, what typically happens to this energy?

• A. It is stored as potential energy within the products.
• B. It disappears completely from the system and the universe.
• C. It is converted into heat and transferred to the surroundings.
• D. It is transformed into matter according to the law of conservation of mass.

Answer: (C)

Verified step by step guidance

1. Understand the Law of Conservation of Energy, which states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed from one form to another.
2. Recognize that when energy is 'lost' in a chemical or physical process, it is not actually lost but converted into another form of energy.
3. Identify common forms of energy transformation during such processes, such as conversion into heat (thermal energy) that is transferred to the surroundings.
4. Eliminate incorrect options: energy does not disappear, is not transformed into matter (which relates to mass-energy equivalence in nuclear reactions, not typical chemical processes), and is not necessarily stored as potential energy in the products.
5. Conclude that the typical fate of 'lost' energy in chemical or physical processes is conversion into heat energy that dissipates into the surroundings.