What triggers a chemical reaction? - Kareem Jarrah
-
0:07 - 0:09You know how sometimes
you go to bake a cake -
0:09 - 0:11but your bananas have all gone rotten,
-
0:11 - 0:12your utensils have rusted,
-
0:12 - 0:16you trip and pour all of your baking soda
into the vinegar jug, -
0:16 - 0:18and then your oven explodes?
-
0:18 - 0:24My friend, you and your chemical reactions
have fallen victim to enthalpy and entropy -
0:24 - 0:26and, boy, are they forces
to be reckoned with. -
0:26 - 0:29Now, your reactants are all products.
-
0:29 - 0:33So, what are these "E" words,
and what's their big idea? -
0:33 - 0:35Let's start with enthalpy,
-
0:35 - 0:39an increase or decrease of energy
during a chemical reaction. -
0:39 - 0:43Every molecule has a certain amount
of chemical potential energy -
0:43 - 0:46stored within the bonds between its atoms.
-
0:46 - 0:49Chemicals with more energy
are less stable, -
0:49 - 0:52and thus, more likely to react.
-
0:52 - 0:55Let's visualize the energy flow
in a reaction, -
0:55 - 1:01the combustion of hydrogen and oxygen,
by playing a round of crazy golf. -
1:01 - 1:05Our goal is to get a ball, the reactant,
up a small rise -
1:05 - 1:08and down the other much steeper slope.
-
1:08 - 1:11Where the hill goes up,
we need to add energy to the ball, -
1:11 - 1:16and where it goes down, the ball releases
energy into its surroundings. -
1:16 - 1:20The hole represents the product,
or result of the reaction. -
1:20 - 1:24When the reaction period ends,
the ball is inside the hole, -
1:24 - 1:27and we have our product: water.
-
1:27 - 1:31This, like when our oven exploded,
is an exothermic reaction, -
1:31 - 1:35meaning that the chemical's final energy
is less than its starting energy, -
1:35 - 1:38and the difference has been added
to the surrounding environment -
1:38 - 1:41as light and heat.
-
1:41 - 1:43We can also play out
the opposite type of reaction, -
1:43 - 1:45an endothermic reaction,
-
1:45 - 1:48where the final energy is greater
than the starting energy. -
1:48 - 1:52That's what we were trying
to achieve by baking our cake. -
1:52 - 1:55The added heat from the oven would
change the chemical structure -
1:55 - 1:59of the proteins in the eggs
and various compounds in the butter. -
1:59 - 2:01So that's enthalpy.
-
2:01 - 2:02As you might suspect,
-
2:02 - 2:07exothermic reactions are more likely
to happen than endothermic ones -
2:07 - 2:10because they require less energy to occur.
-
2:10 - 2:14But there's another independent factor
that can make reactions happen: -
2:14 - 2:15entropy.
-
2:15 - 2:19Entropy measures a chemical's randomness.
-
2:19 - 2:22Here's an enormous pyramid of golf balls.
-
2:22 - 2:25Its ordered structure
means it has low entropy. -
2:25 - 2:28However, when it collapses,
we have chaos everywhere, -
2:28 - 2:30balls bouncing high and wide.
-
2:30 - 2:34So much so that some
even go over the hill. -
2:34 - 2:37This shift to instability,
or higher entropy, -
2:37 - 2:40can allow reactions to happen.
-
2:40 - 2:43As with the golf balls,
in actual chemicals -
2:43 - 2:48this transition from structure to disorder
gets some reactants past the hump -
2:48 - 2:51and lets them start a reaction.
-
2:51 - 2:54You can see both enthalpy
and entropy at play -
2:54 - 2:57when you go to light
a campfire to cook dinner. -
2:57 - 2:58Your match adds enough energy
-
2:58 - 3:02to activate the exothermic reaction
of combustion, -
3:02 - 3:06converting the high-energy
combustible material in the wood -
3:06 - 3:09to lower energy carbon dioxide and water.
-
3:09 - 3:14Entropy also increases
and helps the reaction along -
3:14 - 3:16because the neat, organized log of wood
-
3:16 - 3:22is now converted into randomly moving
water vapor and carbon dioxide. -
3:22 - 3:24The energy shed by this
exothermic reaction -
3:24 - 3:28powers the endothermic reaction
of cooking your dinner. -
3:28 - 3:30Bon appétit!
- Title:
- What triggers a chemical reaction? - Kareem Jarrah
- Description:
-
View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/what-triggers-a-chemical-reaction-kareem-jarrah
Chemicals are in everything we see, and the reactions between them can look like anything from rust on a spoon to an explosion on your stovetop. But why do these reactions happen in the first place? Kareem Jarrah answers this question by examining the two underlying forces that drive both endothermic and exothermic chemical reactions: enthalpy and entropy.
Lesson by Kareem Jarrah, animation by Flaming Medusa Studios Inc.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TED-Ed
- Duration:
- 03:46
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Jessica Ruby edited English subtitles for What triggers a chemical reaction? - Kareem Jarrah | ||
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Jessica Ruby accepted English subtitles for What triggers a chemical reaction? - Kareem Jarrah | ||
Jessica Ruby edited English subtitles for What triggers a chemical reaction? - Kareem Jarrah | ||
Jessica Ruby edited English subtitles for What triggers a chemical reaction? - Kareem Jarrah | ||
Jennifer Cody edited English subtitles for What triggers a chemical reaction? - Kareem Jarrah |