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Difficulty: EasyStandard Enthalpy Changes and Hess's Law

According to Hess's law of constant heat summation, the total enthalpy change of a chemical reaction depends only on the initial reactants and final products, regardless of the intermediate pathway taken.

Answer: Answer

Answer

The statement is true because enthalpy is a state function, meaning the overall enthalpy change of a chemical reaction is independent of the route or pathway taken.
Hess's law directly states that the overall standard enthalpy change for a chemical reaction is independent of the pathway or intermediate steps, relying solely on the initial and final chemical states.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the core law and definition referenced in the statement.
The statement references Hess's law of constant heat summation.
Understanding the fundamental definition of Hess's law is required to evaluate the claim.
2
Analyze whether enthalpy (ΔH\Delta H) is a state function or path function.
Enthalpy change (ΔH\Delta H) is a state function.
State functions depend only on initial and final states, meaning any alternative reaction cycle yields the exact same net enthalpy change.

Key Concept

Hess's Law and State Functions
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Topics

Standard Enthalpy Changes and Hess's Law