Hello all,

I was wondering whether striking a match is endothermic or exothermic. This seems quite straight forward as striking a match releases heat, which is obviously exothermic. However, the process of igniting the match requires heat in itself, so I was wondering since the reaction required heat, would it be endothermic instead? I read from a post somewhere that for a reaction to be endothermic, heat is absorbed for the reaction to occur. Since heat is required for the initial ignition of the match, wouldn't that be an endothermic reaction? As well, is the bolded statement correct?

Thanks

You are thinking about activation energy, which is often required to start a reaction or process.

 

In your case you provide the activation energy through the friction of the matchead on the box.

 

For an exothermic reaction you eventually get back more energy than you put in so once started the reaction proceeds by itself (is spontaneous).

For an endothermic reaction you have to keep putting in energy to keep it going.

 

Note that the terms exothermic and endothermic only refer to the input or output of heat energy.

 

Here is a clear explanation.

 

http://www.gcsescience.com/rc24-energy-level-diagram.htm

Edited October 16, 201312 yr by studiot