Video Transcript
Which of the following is not a
type of energy that a chemical reaction may produce? (A) Electric, (B) chemical, (C)
light, (D) heat, (E) color.
There is chemical potential energy
in all molecules due to electrostatic attractions between particles that make up the
molecule. A chemical reaction results in
changes to the chemical energy due to the breaking and making of bonds between
atoms. So chemical reactions certainly
produce chemical energy. Since we want to identify the type
of energy that is not produced by chemical reaction, we can rule out answer choice
(B).
Chemical energy isn’t the only type
of energy produced by a chemical reaction. This reaction in particular, the
combustion of methane, releases a lot of energy in the form of heat. This makes burning methane a common
way people heat their homes. Many chemical reactions produce
energy in the form of heat, so we can eliminate answer choice (D).
Lots of reactions that release heat
also give off a lot of light, for example, the combustion of magnesium metal in
oxygen. This reaction is used to light up
the night sky during a fireworks display. So, we can eliminate answer choice
(C).
Chemical reactions are also used to
produce electrical energy. This is how batteries work. Inside a common single-use battery,
a chemical reaction between zinc and manganese dioxide is used to produce electrical
energy. So we can eliminate answer choice
(A), which leaves us with answer choice (E). This is the correct answer as color
is not a type of energy. Rather, it’s an observed property
of light.
So of the statements we were given,
the only one that was not a type of energy that may be produced by a chemical
reaction was answer choice (E), color.
