For the reaction 2 Hg(l) + O₂(g) → 2 HgO(s), ∆H = –43 kcal/mol (–180 kJ/mol).
a. Does entropy increase or decrease in this process? Explain.

Question

For the reaction 2 Hg(l) + O₂(g) → 2 HgO(s), ∆H = –43 kcal/mol (–180 kJ/mol).

a. Does entropy increase or decrease in this process? Explain.

Accepted Answer

Welcome back everyone. The entropy change of the following reaction is 228 kilocalories per mole or 953 kg per mole. Does the entropy of the reaction decrease or increase? And why? So we're given the reaction where we have two moles of gaseous ECM reacting with one mole of di atomic bromine liquid to form two moles of cesium bromide solid. Let's recall facts about entropy which is represented by the symbol S we want to recall that are gaseous state has the highest entropy versus our liquid state. Whereas our solid state has the lowest amount of entropy recall that entropy describes disorder slash chaos of a system. We also want to recall that an increase and complexity of a compound will correspond to an increase in entropy. We can think of the example N 03 gas vs N 02 gas Where we have and sorry, this is N 02 gas here where we see that in N 03 gas, we have a total of four elements or we'll say four atoms in this case. And for N 02 gas, we have a total of just three atoms. So our higher amount of entropy is going to be with N 03 gas, which consists of four atoms total three being oxygen and one being nitrogen. We also want to recall that a increase in mass will also correlate to a greater or increase in entropy. So looking at our given reaction, We have two moles of gas Reacting with one mole of liquid to form two moles of solid. So we go from a gas reacting with a liquid to form a single solid product. Notice that on our react inside are gaseous state for our Sussie. Um reactant characterizes a high amount of entropy for the react inside. Whereas on our product side are solid state of our society, um bromide product characterizes a decrease in entropy for our product side. So because we go from high entropy to low entropy, we therefore have an overall entropy change delta us that is negative and so entropy decreases. So based on our answer choices, we can agree that statement A says that the entropy of the reaction decreases because the two atoms of gas reacts with one mole of liquid to produce two molecules of solid. And as we know, our solid state correlates to the lowest amount of entropy or lowest amount of disorder and chaos of our system being the reaction. So a would be the only correct choice to complete this example as our final answer for the reason that entropy decreases in our given reaction. I hope this made sense and let us know if you have any questions.

For the reaction 2 Hg(l) + O₂(g) → 2 HgO(s), ∆H = –43 kcal/mol (–180 kJ/mol).
a. Does entropy increase or decrease in this process? Explain.

Verified video answer for a similar problem:

Key Concepts

Enthalpy (∆H)

Entropy (S)

Gibbs Free Energy (∆G)

For the reaction 2 Hg(l) + O2(g) → 2 HgO(s), ∆H = –43 kcal/mol (–180 kJ/mol). a. Does entropy increase or decrease in this process? Explain.

Verified video answer for a similar problem:

Key Concepts

Enthalpy (∆H)

Entropy (S)

Gibbs Free Energy (∆G)

For the reaction 2 Hg(l) + O₂(g) → 2 HgO(s), ∆H = –43 kcal/mol (–180 kJ/mol).
a. Does entropy increase or decrease in this process? Explain.