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9.7 Coupled Reactions

Part of Thermodynamics and Electrochemistry in AP® Chemistry. Read the opening section, then create a free account for the full interactive lesson, practice, and progress tracking.

Coupled Reactions

Sometimes, chemists want a reaction that is thermodynamically unfavorable to happen. In order to do this, they must provide an external source of energy. For example, electrical energy is used to charge a battery and light is able to convert carbon dioxide to glucose in photosynthesis. All of these processes won’t happen on their own, so they need another reaction to occur, which is thermodynamically favorable, to provide them the external energy needed to react, which is known as a coupled reaction.

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