What is the basis of Hess' law?

Hess' law is a principle in thermochemistry that states the total enthalpy change for a chemical reaction is the same, regardless of the pathway taken to obtain the final products from the initial reactants. This means that if a reaction can occur via multiple steps, the overall enthalpy change is the sum of the enthalpy changes for each individual step, even if the steps are carried out in a different order or via different mechanisms.

This concept is grounded in the law of conservation of energy, which indicates that energy changes are fixed and independent of the process taken to achieve those energetic changes. Hess' law is a powerful tool because it allows chemists to calculate the enthalpy change for reactions that may be difficult to measure directly by using known enthalpy changes of other reactions.

The other options present different concepts. The statement about enthalpy change being dependent on temperature refers to the fact that enthalpies of substances change with temperature but does not describe Hess’ law directly. The assertion about energy changes being path-dependent contradicts the essence of Hess' law, as it emphasizes that the path does not affect the total change in enthalpy. Finally, while the idea that energy cannot be created or destroyed is a fundamental principle