Deep Dive: Breaking and Making Bonds
This deep dive covers Deep Dive: Breaking and Making Bonds within Bond Energies (HT) for GCSE Chemistry. Revise Bond Energies (HT) in Energy Changes for GCSE Chemistry with 25 exam-style questions and 15 flashcards. This topic appears regularly enough that it should still be part of a steady revision cycle. It is section 3 of 15 in this topic. Use this deep dive to connect the idea to the wider topic before moving on to questions and flashcards.
Topic position
Section 3 of 15
Practice
25 questions
Recall
15 flashcards
🔬 Deep Dive: Breaking and Making Bonds
Why does breaking a bond always require energy? Think about pulling a magnet off a fridge: you have to put energy in to separate them. Bonded atoms are similar — they are held together by electrical attraction between positively charged nuclei and shared electrons, and you must supply energy to pull them apart. This is why breaking bonds is always endothermic — it always requires an energy input from the surroundings.
The reverse is also true: when atoms come together to form a bond, they move into a lower, more stable energy state and release the excess energy to the surroundings. This is why forming bonds is always exothermic — it always releases energy.
| BREAKING Bonds | MAKING Bonds |
|---|---|
|
ENDOTHERMIC Energy is REQUIRED — energy IN from surroundings |
EXOTHERMIC Energy is RELEASED — energy OUT to surroundings |
Keep building this topic
Read this section alongside the surrounding pages in Bond Energies (HT). That gives you the full topic sequence instead of a single isolated revision point.
Practice Questions for Bond Energies (HT)
Which statement correctly describes the energy change when chemical bonds are broken?
Explain how you would determine, from a bond energy calculation, whether a reaction is exothermic or endothermic.
Quick Recall Flashcards
25 questions on Bond Energies (HT) — practise free
Instant marking, adaptive difficulty, and 15 spaced repetition flashcards. Free until your GCSEs.
Try PrepWise Free