{"id":209039,"date":"2025-04-28T09:53:22","date_gmt":"2025-04-28T09:53:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=209039"},"modified":"2025-04-28T09:53:24","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T09:53:24","slug":"refer-to-the-figure-below-which-shows-an-oxidation-reduction-reaction-that-occurs-spontaneously","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/04\/28\/refer-to-the-figure-below-which-shows-an-oxidation-reduction-reaction-that-occurs-spontaneously\/","title":{"rendered":"Refer to the figure below, which shows an oxidation-reduction reaction that occurs spontaneously"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Refer to the figure below, which shows an oxidation-reduction reaction that occurs spontaneously. Reduced compound A (reducing agent) Oxidized compound B (oxidizing agent) A is oxidized, having lost electrons. B is reduced, having gained electrons. Oxidized compound A Reduced compound B Which statement correctly compares the free energy stored in molecules shown in the figure?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The oxidized form of B has greater free energy than the reduced form of B.<br>The oxidized form of B has greater free energy than the reduced form of A.<br>The reduced form of A has greater free energy than the oxidized form of A.<br>The oxidized form of A has greater free energy than the reduced form of B.<br>The reduced form of B has greater free energy than the reduced form of A.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-ast-global-color-6-color\"><strong>The correct answer and explanation is :<\/strong><\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The correct answer is: <strong>The reduced form of A has greater free energy than the oxidized form of A.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Explanation:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let&#8217;s break it down carefully:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the figure described, we have an oxidation-reduction (redox) reaction that happens <strong>spontaneously<\/strong>. In redox reactions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Oxidation<\/strong> = loss of electrons<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Reduction<\/strong> = gain of electrons<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Compound A<\/strong> starts in a <strong>reduced form<\/strong> (meaning it has extra electrons) and becomes <strong>oxidized<\/strong> (loses those electrons).<br><strong>Compound B<\/strong> starts in an <strong>oxidized form<\/strong> (missing some electrons) and becomes <strong>reduced<\/strong> (gains electrons).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In spontaneous redox reactions, <strong>electrons naturally flow from the substance with higher free energy to the one with lower free energy<\/strong>. This is key!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, think about energy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Reduced molecules<\/strong> generally store more <strong>free energy<\/strong> than their <strong>oxidized forms<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>This is because electrons are &#8220;energy-rich&#8221;; losing electrons (oxidation) releases stored energy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Thus, the <strong>reduced form of A<\/strong> has <strong>more free energy<\/strong> than the <strong>oxidized form of A<\/strong>.<br>In other words, <strong>before A loses electrons<\/strong>, it holds more chemical energy. After losing electrons (oxidized), A is in a lower-energy, more stable state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This matches the answer: <strong>The reduced form of A has greater free energy than the oxidized form of A.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, why not the other choices?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The oxidized form of B has greater free energy than the reduced form of B<\/strong> \u2192 Wrong. Reduced molecules have <em>more<\/em> free energy.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The oxidized form of B has greater free energy than the reduced form of A<\/strong> \u2192 Wrong. B gaining electrons (being reduced) means it <em>started<\/em> with lower free energy.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The oxidized form of A has greater free energy than the reduced form of B<\/strong> \u2192 Wrong. Oxidized forms generally have less free energy.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The reduced form of B has greater free energy than the reduced form of A<\/strong> \u2192 Wrong. A being the reducing agent means it started with higher free energy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Thus, the best match is:<br>\u2705 <strong>The reduced form of A has greater free energy than the oxidized form of A.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Refer to the figure below, which shows an oxidation-reduction reaction that occurs spontaneously. Reduced compound A (reducing agent) Oxidized compound B (oxidizing agent) A is oxidized, having lost electrons. B is reduced, having gained electrons. Oxidized compound A Reduced compound B Which statement correctly compares the free energy stored in molecules shown in the figure? [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-209039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209039\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}