Question

Define Hess's law of constant heat summation.

Answer 1

The heat changes in chemical reactions are equal to the difference in internal energy (∆U) or heat content (∆H) of the products and reactants, depending upon whether the reaction is studied at constant volume or constant pressure. Since ∆U and ∆H are functions of the state of the system, the heat evolved or absorbed in a given reaction depends only on the initial state and final state of the system and not on the path or the steps by which the change takes place.