Colliding into Activation Energy

By: Emilio I. April 4th was the first day back from Spring Break so we began a new unit, unit 11: Kinetics and Equilibrium. We started off by talking about the collision theory and how a chemical reaction can not occur if the reactions do not collide. Mr. Lieberman used the example that if two substances are on opposite sides of a container, they cannot react at all! This is true because when molecules collide they transfer kinetic energy and break the bonds that hold other molecules together.

Kinetic energy is half the battle, the other half is having correct orientation. In order for a reaction to occur between molecules, specific atoms must crash into eachother at specific speeds. Here is an image describing the idea behind orientation and chemical reactions:

The Kinetic energy required to break the bonds in a molecule and cause a chemical reaction is known as the Activation Energy. It is also referred to as the Activated Complex. It is at the top of the graph showing a reaction's energy, just like this one: We only discussed one way to increase the speed of this type of reaction, although there are many ways to do this. The one we discussed is by adding a catalyst that lowers the activation energy which allows a higher number of reactions to occur among the molecules in the reaction. The catalyst is not a part of the reaction, though, so it will not appear in the reactants or products. The next Scribe will beeeeee: Kaitlin S. Goodluck