Why does creating bonds release energy?

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Why does creating bonds release energy?

In: Chemistry

5 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

The process of creating a bond may release energy or even absorb it in some cases. Depends upon the procedure and atoms.

The explaination below is just for understanding the general concept. There are many reasons for this to happen. I do not recommend the following to be used as facts.

Atoms are in a state of energy (to put it simply). The atoms that are unstable have higher energy which is why they are unstable. Consider another atom in such a state. For these atoms to form a bond, they must be at equal energy (this is not true in all cases) so that the molecule being formed is stable. So the atoms give off energy to reach the state of equality and form a bond. Once the bond is created the molecule is at stable state.
Again, this is over simplified concept for a 13 year old. If you are answering this question in any of the paper, i recommend referencing the books.

Anonymous 0 Comments

What makes you say that it does? Because it doesn’t always. Maybe give a little context?

Anonymous 0 Comments

It doesn’t always. Creating chemical bonds can either release energy or require it depending on the chemical properties of the compound(s). An example of creating a bond that releases energy is joining hydrogen and oxygen together into water, which is how hydrogen fuel cells work. An example of destroying bonds to release energy is the burning of gasoline/petrol fuel. The long chain hydrocarbons are broken, resulting in energy and smaller combustion byproducts like carbon dioxide. It required energy to fuse together those hydrocarbons, and that was done by plants millions of years ago.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Because they become more stable. It requires less energy to be a molecule or compound than it does to be an individual atom, and they give away excess energy when joining for the sake of stability and since it is no longer needed, generally given off in the form of heat. They gain this energy back when the bond is broken, since it takes energy to release a bond, i.e. the spark in your cylinder that ignites the gas.

Source + good reading material on the matter:

https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Physical_and_Theoretical_Chemistry_Textbook_Maps/Supplemental_Modules_(Physical_and_Theoretical_Chemistry)/Chemical_Bonding/Fundamentals_of_Chemical_Bonding/Bond_Energies

Anonymous 0 Comments

Imagine two magnets snapping together. They just formed a bond, and released energy in the process. This is more or less what happens on an atomic level.