Can anyone help me with this attached question, the reaction occurred in a calorimeter?
I'm assuming they're exothermic? I know HCl and NaOH is, and also the Mg reaction producing heat? If you look at the graph for an exothermic reaction/energy profile, the energy released is
greater the rise that you see is the energy required to break the bonds in the reactants, the Ea (activation energy), BUT! this is then released as the curve comes back down to the same level as you started, then it drops even further to produce a negative delta H/change in enthalpy. Recap: you absorb let's say 1 unit of energy as Ea, this is then released, so you're back to zero, but then the reaction, being exothermic, releases even more energy so in effect you release more energy than you take in.
