Flexi Says: All chemical reactions involve energy. Energy is used to break bonds in reactants, and energy is released when new bonds form in products. In some chemical reactions, called endothermic reactions, less energy is released when new bonds form in the products than is needed to break bonds in the reactants. The opposite is true of exothermic reactions. In an exothermic reaction, it takes less energy to break bonds in the reactants than is released when new bonds form in the products.