A reaction that favors products with increased temperature indicates what about the reaction's enthalpy?

In chemical reactions, the relationship between temperature, product formation, and enthalpy can be understood using Le Chatelier's principle. When a reaction shifts to favor the production of products as temperature increases, it suggests that the forward reaction absorbs heat. This behavior is characteristic of endothermic reactions, which require the input of heat to proceed.

In an endothermic reaction, the enthalpy of the products is higher than that of the reactants, leading to a positive change in enthalpy (ΔH > 0). As temperature rises, the system adjusts to minimize the stress caused by the increase in thermal energy, thus driving the equilibrium toward the formation of more products. Therefore, an increase in temperature favoring product formation directly indicates that the reaction is endothermic.

Referring to exothermic reactions, these release heat; therefore, increasing the temperature would shift the balance toward reactants, contrary to the scenario described. Subsequently, both the idea of it being both exothermic and endothermic is not feasible because a chemical reaction can only be classified as one or the other based on its enthalpy change. Lastly, while temperature changes can inform us about reaction direction, the enthalpy characteristic is specifically revealed by the