Re: energy in the tank

[John Barrer <forcejb@YAHOO.COM>]

No, chemical bonds do NOT store energy. The reason a
chemical bond is stable is that the system reaches a
lower energy state as the bond forms. Energy must be
added to break this chemical bond. The common practice
in biology of referring to the "high energy ATP bond"
is probably a major contributor to this misconception.
John Barrere
--- cliff parker <cparker@CHARTER.NET> wrote:
> I don't agree.  Where did the energy required to
> build the chemicals in
> gasoline came from?  Ultimately can't it primarily
> be traced back to the
> sun?  Didn't the chemical bonds "store" the radiant
> energy received from the
> sun?  I hope so because otherwise I have been
> expressing myself more clearly
> than I can think all day today and I certainly don't
> want that to happen.
>
> Cliff Parker
>
> Never express yourself more clearly than you can
> think.  Niels Bohr
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "John Barrer" <forcejb@YAHOO.COM>
> To: <PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu>
> Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2002 2:54 PM
> Subject: energy in the tank
>
>
> > I think we should be VERY careful about referring
> to
> > energy stored in the gas tank. It reinforces the
> > faulty notion on the part of many students that
> > chemical bonds store energy. This is not true
> since
> > energy is released as bonds form; energy must be
> added
> > to a molecule to break bonds. The oxidation of
> > gasoline takes us to a lower potential well and
> energy
> > is released in the reaction, but it was not
> "stored"
> > in the gasoline.
> >
> > I recently saw a paper which reported the results
> of
> > conceptual testing of Purdue (I believe) undergrad
> > science majors. A LARGE majority believed that
> > chemical bonds store energy. We should studiously
> > avoid reinforcing that misconception. Unless, of
> > course, one feels that this is not a significant
> > misconception. John Barrere
> >
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