Chemistry I / Gibbs Free Energy and Spontaneity
Practice question · True or false

A reaction with a positive enthalpy change can still be spontaneous.

Hints
  1. Consider what happens when the entropy term is large and positive.
  2. At high enough temperature, T times dS can exceed dH.
Show the answer

True

Why

True, an endothermic reaction becomes spontaneous once TΔST\Delta S exceeds ΔH\Delta H. Dissolving ammonium nitrate absorbs heat and gets cold, yet happens readily because the entropy gain is large.

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