Hess’s Law works because enthalpy is a…Group of answer choicesinverse functionstatic functionopen functionstate function

Understanding Hess's Law

Hess's Law is a principle in thermodynamics that states that the total enthalpy change during a chemical reaction is the same, regardless of the pathway taken from reactants to products. This property is a consequence of the fact that enthalpy is a state function.

Explanation of Answer Choices

1. Inverse Function: This term generally describes a mathematical function that reverses the effect of another function. It does not apply to enthalpy in this context.

2. Static Function: While enthalpy does not change during a reaction at constant temperature and pressure, "static" does not effectively capture the essence of state functions.

3. Open Function: This term does not accurately describe enthalpy or its behavior in reactions.

4. State Function: This is the correct answer. Enthalpy is a property that depends only on the current state of the system, not on how the system reached that state.

Final Answer

Hess's Law works because enthalpy is a state function.