Why is carbon used to extract metals from their oxides?
1 answer:
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Answer: see figure attached and explanation below.
Explanation:
1) Chemical equation (given):
Fe + CuCl₂ → Cu + FeCl₂
2) ΔHf reactants: -256 kJ/mol (given)
3) ΔHf products: - 321 kJ/mol (given)
4) ΔH reaction = ΔHf products - ΔHf reactants = - 321 kJ/mol - (- 256 kJ/mol) = - 65 kJ/mol
5) Conclusion:
i) Since ΔHf of products is less (more negative) than ΔHf of reactants, the reaction is exhotermic: the reaction released energy, which is the reason why the products content less potential energy than the reactants.
ii) Then, the energy diagram is the typical one of an exothermic reaction: the products start a certain potential energy level, the energy incrases until reaching the activation energy (the energy barrier to form the activated complex) and then energy decreases until a level below the energy of the reactants.
iii) See the attached figure with such kind of diagram showing the products at a lower level than the reactans
