Yeah this is correct and I was oversimplifying. Though that begs the question of how that equation balances out - where does (a lot of energy) comes from? The

Yeah this is correct and I was oversimplifying. Though that begs the question of how that equation balances out - where does (a lot of energy) comes from? The products on the right side sit at a lower energy level (they hold together “tighter”) overall. On the left, O2 needs less energy to break up while CH4 needs more, so in that sense the energy “comes” from O2 being easier to break apart. Conceptually I imagine these as a bunch of magnets with the two “magnets” in O2 held at a larger gap (so easier to take apart). With a jolt, things reconfigure and snap into a tighter pattern, and there’s an overall energy release.