Bonds & Energy Changes (Edexcel GCSE Chemistry: Combined Science)

• Energy is needed to break bonds which is absorbed from the reaction surroundings, so bond breaking is an endothermic process
• The opposite occurs for forming bonds as it releases energy back to the surroundings in an exothermic process
• Both processes occur in the same chemical reaction, for example, in the production of ammonia:

N₂ + 3H₂ ⟶ 2NH₃

• The bonds in the N-N and H-H molecules must be broken which requires energy while the bonds in the NH₃ molecule are formed which releases energy
• Most reactions occur in a number of steps including steps that are exothermic and steps that are endothermic
• Whether a reaction is overall endothermic or exothermic depends on the difference between the sum of the exothermic steps and the sum of the endothermic steps

Endothermic

• If more energy is absorbed than is released, this reaction is endothermic
• More energy is required to break the bonds than that gained from making the new bonds
• The change in energy is positive since the products have more energy than the reactants
• Therefore an endothermic reaction has a positive change in energy

Energy must be absorbed from the surroundings for bonds to be broken 

Exothermic

• If more energy is released than is absorbed, then the reaction is exothermic
• More energy is released when new bonds are formed than energy required to break the bonds in the reactants
• The change in energy is negative since the reactants have more energy than the products
• Therefore an exothermic reaction has a negative change in energy

Making new bonds gives off heat from the reaction to the surroundings