Answer to Question #299895 in General Chemistry for Victoria

Question

An equilibrium exists between NO2 and N2O4 in a gaseous system as

represented below:

2NO2(g) ⇌ N2O4(g)

NO2 (g) has an intense orange appearance whereas N2O4 (g) is colourless.

Heating this system at equilibrium increases the intensity of the orange colour.

From this information, the forward reaction would be classified as:

A) endothermic

B) exothermic

C) both exothermic and endothermic

D) neither exothermic nor endothermic

Answer 1

The forward reaction is exothermic.

Increase in temperature favours endothermic reaction, which is the backward reaction. When backward reaction is endothermic, forward reaction is exothermic.