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Biology / Unit 3   Bio 0494 short lesson, about 20 seconds

"Spontaneous Means Instantaneous"

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The idea

A spontaneous reaction is one that releases energy and needs no outside energy source to proceed — it says nothing about how fast that reaction runs.

In practice

Iron rusting is a spontaneous, exergonic reaction that can still take years to finish.

Where people slip

Confusing "spontaneous" with "instant" misreads a claim about energy direction as a claim about reaction speed.

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