Question

When ammonium chloride and water interact, less energy is released from breaking the bonds in the water and ammonium chloride than what is required to form the bonds of the new substance.
What is happening in the reaction?

An endothermic reaction is occurring.
An exothermic reaction is occurring.
Energy is being released into the surroundings.
Energy escapes as light into the surroundings.

Answer 1

Answer: Option (A) is the correct answer.

Explanation:

When two compounds react together then certain amount of energy must be supplied in order to form new substance. But when heat supplied is less than the heat absorbed by the reactants then there will be very less release of energy.

The reaction between ammonium chloride and water will be as follows.

     $NH_{4}Cl(s) + H_{2}O(l) \rightarrow NH^{+}_{4}(aq) + Cl^{-}(aq)$

Therefore, when we dissolve ammonium chloride in to water then ammonium chloride will absorb heat and dissociate into ions and the solution becomes colder. Thus, the reaction will be endothermic in nature because heat is absorbed by the reactants.  

Hence, we can conclude that endothermic reaction is occurring when ammonium chloride is dissolved in water.

Answer 2

The answer is an endothermic reaction is occuring