Question

*the free part refers to being available to do work, which not all energy is. for example, the nuclear energy that keeps protons and neutrons in the nuclei of co₂s carbon and oxygen atoms isnt available to do work, so it isnt part of the reaction systems free energy.

in many or most cases, making chemical bonds takes energy while breaking chemical bonds releases energy. and in many or most cases, making larger molecules out of smaller molecules makes a system more ordered—meaning that making large molecules decreases entropy. if you created reaction mixes in test tubes that contained everything required to make the peptide bonds to form proteins, the phosphodiester bonds to make rna and dna, and the glycosidic bonds to make carbohydrates—but no source of energy—would the reactions take place spontaneously or would they be nonspontaneous?

○ spontaneous
○ nonspontaneous
○ neither—there is no net change in free energy.

cells are highly organized entities, filled with large molecules and complex molecular machines. in terms of free energy, then, it is logical to claim, life is nonspontaneous.

○ true
○ false

Explanation:

• For the first question: Making large molecules (like proteins, RNA/DNA, carbohydrates) from smaller ones requires energy input (as making chemical bonds takes energy and decreases entropy). Without an energy source, reactions that require energy input (non - spontaneous reactions) won't occur.
• For the second question: Cells are highly organized (low entropy). Non - spontaneous processes are those that require energy input (e.g., to create order). Since cells maintain a high level of organization (which is a state of low entropy and requires energy input), it is logical to say life (which is based on cellular organization) is non - spontaneous.

Answer:

• First question: Nonspontaneous
• Second question: True