This exam focus covers Exam Focus within Exothermic Reactions for GCSE Chemistry. Revise Exothermic Reactions in Energy Changes for GCSE Chemistry with 20 exam-style questions and 14 flashcards. This topic appears regularly enough that it should still be part of a steady revision cycle. It is section 10 of 12 in this topic. Treat this as a marking guide for what examiners are looking for, not just a fact list.
Topic position
Section 10 of 12
Practice
20 questions
Recall
14 flashcards
🎯 Exam Focus
Frequently Examined
Exothermic reactions appear in almost every chemistry paper. Key exam areas:
- Identifying exothermic from data — temperature increases in experiment
- Drawing energy profiles — products lower than reactants, peak shown
- Giving examples — combustion, neutralisation, respiration, oxidation
- Explaining in terms of bonds — energy released making bonds > energy needed breaking bonds
- ΔH notation — negative value, correct units (kJ/mol)
Quick Check: Give THREE examples of exothermic reactions.
Any three from: combustion (burning fuels), neutralisation (acid + alkali), respiration (glucose + oxygen in cells), oxidation (metals reacting with oxygen such as rusting), displacement reactions (reactive metal displacing a less reactive one). All of these release heat energy to the surroundings.