A chemical engineer wants to design an exothermic reactor. Which outcome occurs when the enthalpy of the products is significantly lower than the enthalpy of the reactants?

💡 Explanation

Heat is released because a lower enthalpy of products means the reaction has released energy as heat to the surroundings. This occurs through the thermodynamic process of energy minimization, therefore heat flows out of the reactor, rather than being absorbed in an endothermic process.

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