Catalysts Flashcards

All 4 cards in this deck

What is a catalyst?

A substance that increases the rate of a reaction without altering the products, and is itself chemically unchanged and unchanged in mass at the end.

How does a catalyst increase the rate of a reaction?

It provides an alternative route with a lower activation energy, so a greater proportion of collisions are successful.

On a reaction profile, what is different and what is the same when a catalyst is used?

The peak is lower (lower activation energy); the start and end energies are the same because the reactants and products are the same.

Why is only a small amount of catalyst needed, even for a large amount of reactant?

The catalyst is not used up, so the same catalyst can keep speeding up the reaction over and over again.