6. Thermodynamics and Kinetics

When ethene is treated in a calorimeter with H₂ and a Pt catalyst, the heat of reaction is found to be –137 kJ/mol (–32.7 kcal/mol), and the reaction goes to completion. When the reaction takes place at 1400 K, the equilibrium is found to be evenly balanced, with K_eq =1.  Compute the value of ΔS for this reaction.

For the following values of ∆H° , ∆S°, and T, tell whether the process would be favored.

(a) ∆H° = -15 kcal/mol ; ∆S° = +37 cal/mol•K ; T = 273 K