Chemical Change: Activation Energy

Chemical Change: Activation Energy

• Activation energy is the minimum amount of energy that particles need to react when they collide.

• In chemical reactions, the particles must have enough energy to overcome the barrier of the activation energy for the reaction to proceed.

• During a collision between particles, if the energy transferred is equal to or greater than the activation energy, a chemical reaction will occur.

• High activation energy is associated with slow chemical reactions, as it’s less likely for the particles to have sufficient energy to react.

• Lowering the activation energy increases the rate of the reaction. This can be achieved using catalysts.

• Catalysts speed up chemical reactions by providing an alternative reaction pathway with a lower activation energy.

• Increasing temperature generally increases the rate of a chemical reaction. When temperature rises, particles move faster and collide more frequently with more energy, thus more collisions reach or exceed the activation energy.

• The Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution curve is used to visualize the energy of particles in a system. The area under the curve to the right of the activation energy is proportional to the rate of the reaction.

• In endothermic reactions, the activation energy is the sum of the energy needed to break the bonds in the reactants and the energy absorbed from the surroundings.

• In exothermic reactions, the activation energy is only the energy required to break the bonds in the reactants. After that, energy is released as new bonds form in the products.

• Activation energy plays a crucial role in the chemical industry. Processes are designed to have low activation energies to save energy, reduce cost and increase yield.

Remember, understanding the concept of activation energy helps to predict factors that can affect the rate of chemical reactions, whether in everyday life, laboratory experiments or industrial processes.