What is the source of heat, light, sound, and

electricity that can be produced during a

chemical reaction?
As a chemical reaction occurs energy is released. The products are more stable than
the reactants.
Example:
Methane gas reacts with oxygen to produce carbon dioxide and water. Methane gas,
CH4, is the natural gas that we use for our stove and furnace. Methane gas is a fuel.
All fuels are unstable in the presence of oxygen. Carbon dioxide and water are very
stable compounds. The heat energy that is released as methane burns is the result
of breaking the bonds in methane and oxygen, and making the more stable bonds in
the carbon dioxide.
One method of determining the amount energy is to look up the bond energy of the
bonds in the reactants and products. The total amount of bond energy in the
products is less than the total amount of bond energy in the reactants.
Light
When you watch a bonfire, you see various colors of light. In chemistry class, we did
flame tests of various metallic salts
Sodium produces a straw yellow color. Copper produces a bluish green color.
In chemistry, you learn that electrons have excited states and ground states. The
ground state is the most stable state that the electron can exist in. The excited
state is an unstable state. In the unstable state, the outer shell electrons have too
much energy.
The number of protons in the nucleus and arrangement of the electrons in the shells
determines the strength of the electric field that holds the electrons in the shells.
Electrons in atoms of different elements have a different number of protons in the
nucleus and a different arrangement of the electrons in the shells.
So, electrons in atoms of different elemental gases absorb a different amount of
energy as they become excited. Remember, excited means unstable!! These
UNSTABLE electrons emit this specific amount energy to become STABLE.
This energy is light energy.

Sound is actually a wave in the air. When you speak, your sound has many different
frequencies.
As a tree limb burns, you can hear a crackly noise. This noise is the result of small
pieces of wood breaking loose from the main tree limb. This is actually the result of
many bonds breaking at once in the wood. A sound wave is produced by an object
that is vibrating.
As you move the ruler, the frequency of the sound changes. Try it!
As chemical reactions release energy, sometimes you hear cracking and popping.
This is the result of the air around the reaction site vibrating as energy oscillates
away from the site.
I hope my words make sense!
A battery is an example of electricity being produced by a chemical reaction. See
the website below for explanation of a Copper-Zinc Voltaic Cell.
In oxidation reduction reactions, electrons are transferred from active metal such
as zinc to a more stable element, such as copper. If you attach a voltmeter between
the 2 terminals of the battery, you can measure the voltage produced by the
battery. Voltage actually measures the amount of potential electric energy that the
electrons are carrying through the circuit.
In each case above, the energy that is trapped inside the molecule of the reactants
is transformed into heat, light, sound, or electric energy!