endo/exothermicity

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AA|FCB|DOC

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Hi all,

I was doing a passage and I feel like I ran into trouble with a concept I did not ever find difficult before. Basically, the question said that the reaction was a decomposition that requires heat. However, the reaction is still exothermic. How is this possible exactly? For example, I know that for combustions an initial input is needed to get over the activation energy barrier and then after there is a NET release of heat so the reaction is exothermic. But, how would I know if a reaction is actually endothermic or not if I was ONLY told that it is heated?

Thanks in advance.

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You don't. If they tell you that heat is required, but don't also say it is exothermic, then you assume it is endothermic.
 
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