calculating work of a reversible reaction

[LeAirraBullingor2k]

When will work be negative? Like how will we know whether to keep the negative number or not?

[Michael Nguyen 1E]

Work will be negative when the system does work on the surroundings. This generally happens when the system expands in volume through work of expansion.

[Robert Tran 1B]

Work will be negative if the volume is increasing. You should always keep the negative if you are calculating the work being done on the system.

[Ashley Alvarado 2C]

If a system is doing work on the surroundings in the instance of expansion, then work is being lost so work will be negative.

[Joowon Seo 3A]

work of a system will always be negative because we use the pressure external to calculate the work. The system will lose energy since it is doing work

[Michelle Xie 2B]

If the system is doing work, or expanding, work would be negative. If it had work being done on it, or being compressed, it would be positive.