Question

How many of the following processes would you expect to be spontaneous at 298K and 1atm?

dissolving sugar in water
decomposing NaCl to the elements
climbing a mountain
H2O (l)------H2(g)+O2(g)


Choose one answer.
a. 0
b. 1
c. 2
d. 3
e. 4

I thought that it might be 3 of the following above because climbing a mountain is not a spontaneous process.

Answer 1

I don't know if the prof expects you to make an educated guess from what you know or to apply thermodynamics to determine the answer. At any rate, you are right that climbing a mountain is not spontaneous. Do you expect H2O to spontaneously decompose to H2 gas and O2 gas? I think electrolysis (electrical energy) must be applied to do that. And does NaCl spontaneously decompose to the elements Na and Cl2. Again, I think energy is required to do that.