Bond Enthalpy

Bond Enthalpy

It is defined as the amount of energy required to break one mole of bonds of a particular type between two atoms in a gaseous state. The unit of bond enthalpy is kJ mol^-1. For example, the H-H bond enthalpy in hydrogen molecule is 435.8kJ mol^-1.

H₂(g)  →  H(g) + H(g); ∆_aH^v  =  435.kJ mol^-1

Similarly the bond enthalpy for molecules containing multiple bonds, for example O₂ and N₂ will be as under :

O₂ (O=O) (g)  →  O(g) + O(g);  ∆_aH^v  =  498kJ mol^-1

N₂ (N=N) (g)  →  N(g) + N(g);  ∆_aH^v  = 946.0 kJ mol^-1

It is important that larger the bond dissociation enthalpy, stronger will be the bond in the molecule. For a heteronuclear diatomic molecules like HCL, we have

HCL (g) → H(g) + Cl(g); ∆_aH^v  = 431.0 kJ mol^-1

In case of polyatomic molecules, the measurement of bond strength is more complicated. For example in case of H₂O molecule, the enthalpy needed to break the two O-H bonds is not the same.

H₂O(g)  → H(g) + OH(g);  ∆aH^v₁  =  502kJ mol^-1

OH(g)  →  H(g) + O(g); ∆_aH^v₂  =  427 kJ mol^-1

The difference in the ∆_aH^v  value shows that the second O-H bond undergoes some change because of changed chemical environment. This is the reason for some difference in energy of the same O-H bond in different molecules like C₂H₅OH (ethanol) and water. Therefore in polyatomic molecules the term mean or average bond enthalpy is used. It is obtained by dividing total bond dissociation enthalpy by the number of bonds broken as explained below in case of water molecule,