Has Negative Enthalpy Change?

A negative enthalpy change represents an exothermic change where energy is released from the reaction, a positive enthalpy change represents an endothermic reaction where energy is taken in from the surroundings.

Can the enthalpy change be negative?

For this reason, the change in enthalpy, ΔH , for an exothermic reaction will always be negative. ... Exothermic reaction: In an exothermic reaction, the total energy of the products is less than the total energy of the reactants. Therefore, the change in enthalpy is negative, and heat is released to the surroundings.

Is negative ΔH exothermic?

A system that releases heat to the surroundings, an exothermic reaction, has a negative ΔH by convention, because the enthalpy of the products is lower than the enthalpy of the reactants of the system. The enthalpies of these reactions are less than zero, and are therefore exothermic reactions.