In an exothermic process, heat flows out of the system. Which statement is true about q?

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Multiple Choice

In an exothermic process, heat flows out of the system. Which statement is true about q?

Explanation:
In thermodynamics, q is defined as the heat exchanged with the system, with positive meaning heat is added to the system and negative meaning heat leaves the system. In an exothermic process, heat flows from the system to the surroundings, so the system is losing heat. That makes q negative, which is why the correct statement is that q is negative. For contrast, a positive q would mean the system gains heat, zero would mean no heat transfer, and undefined would imply no defined sign, which isn’t the case here.

In thermodynamics, q is defined as the heat exchanged with the system, with positive meaning heat is added to the system and negative meaning heat leaves the system. In an exothermic process, heat flows from the system to the surroundings, so the system is losing heat. That makes q negative, which is why the correct statement is that q is negative. For contrast, a positive q would mean the system gains heat, zero would mean no heat transfer, and undefined would imply no defined sign, which isn’t the case here.

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