Chemistry questions below! (●'◡'●) 1. Islands in the middle of the oceans (for example, Great Britain, Hawaii, Bermuda) tend to have more stable climates with smaller temperature fluctuations than regions of the same mass surrounded by land (for example, continents). Use your knowledge of heat energy, specific heat, and heat transfer to explain these facts.

2. Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3). When you heat baking soda, it breaks down into sodium carbonate powder (Na2CO3), water vapor, and carbon dioxide. The enthalpy of this reaction is 129 kJ. Write a correct thermochemical equation for this reaction, explain how you came up with this equation, and explain what it tells you about the reaction.

(1) Islands are always surrounded by bodies of water, in this case oceans. These islands tend to have more 'stable climates' and 'smaller temperature fluctuations' due to the specific heat of water, which is quite high, 4180 J/kg C. The higher the specific heat, the more the energy needed to raise the temperature of the substance. Land requires less energy to raise it's temperature than water due to it's lower specific heat. Thus, islands tend to have more stable temperatures than regions surrounded by land.

(2) Based on the conditions provided, the thermochemical equation for the reaction should be:  

2NaHCO₃ (s) ---> Na₂CO₃ (s) + H₂O (g) + O₂ (g)

This is a decomposition reaction, as it explains that the baking soda breaks down into the products. All we had left to do is balance the equation, adding 2 as the coefficient of the reactant.

(3) Let's rewrite the given equations:

First chemical reaction: H₂(g) + F₂(g)  ---> 2HF(g), ΔH₁ = –537 kJ.

Second chemical reaction: C(s) + 2F₂(g) ---> CF₄(g), ΔH₂ = –680 kJ

Third chemical reaction: 2C(s) + 2H₂(g) ---> C₂H₄(g), ΔH₃ = +52.3 kJ.

Fourth chemical reaction: C₂H₄(g) + 6F₂(g) ---> 2CF₄(g) + 4HF(g), ΔH₄ = ?

Now the 'fourth chemical reaction' is the one in which we need to determine the enthalpy:

ΔH₄ = 2(ΔH₁) + 2(ΔH₂) - ΔH₃,

ΔH₄ = 2(–537) + 2(–680) - 52.3 = -2486.3 kJ