biology daily - the biology and biochemistry encyclopedia
biology daily articles and research Encyclopedia Dictionary Forums biology research links Weblinks Pictures Articles Blogs Newsletter

Endothermic reaction

In chemistry, an endothermic reaction is one that requires heat to break the bonds of the reactants. In other words, the chemical reaction absorbs heat, causing its surroundings to get colder. Expressed in a chemical equation:

Reactants + Energy → Products

When using the calorimeter, the change in heat of the calorimeter is equal to the opposite of the change in heat of the system. This means that when the solution in which the reaction is taking place loses heat, the reaction is endothermic.

An endothermic reaction is the opposite of an exothermic reaction.

See also: homeothermic, homoiothermic, exothermic, thermodynamics, chemical thermodynamics.



07-14-2008 23:18:10
The contents of this article are licensed from Wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. How to see transparent copy
BiologyDaily.com 2005. Legal info   Privacy