How does this illustrate endothermic and exothermic?

Question

In an "endothermic" cartoon, a person runs up a high hill, the slides down the short end; the peak is labeled "transition state". In the "exothermic" cartoon, the person runs up a small hill and slides down the larger side. He then says "not bad after I overcame the energy of activation". What does this mean?

Answer 1

In the cartoons, the place where you end up and the hill reflect the relative energies of the person.  Actually, the peak of the hill in both cartoons could be a transition state, since it reflects a temporary position the person occupies before completing the "reaction".

In the endothermic cartoon, the person "spent" energy to get up to the top of the hill, and didn't get back as much as they spent when they slid down the other side.  Endothermic is energy-absorbing with regard to the initial and final states.

In the exothermic cartoon, the person may have spent a lot of energy getting to the top (the energy of activation), but then they were rewarded with getting even more energy back because they slid further than they climbed.  Exothermic is energy-releasing with regard to the initial and final states.

Hope that helps!