Rates of Reaction Flashcards
What is the Rate of a Chemical Reaction?
The rate of a chemical reaction is how fast the reactants are changed into products
One of the slowest is the rusting of iron
Other slow reactions include chemical weathering - like acid rain damage to limestone buildings.
An example of a moderate speed reaction would be the metal magnesium reacting with an acid to produce a gentle stream of bubbles.
Burning is a fast reaction, but explosions are even faster and release a lot of gas. Explosive reactions are all over in a fraction of a second.
How do Graphs helps show the Rate of a Reaction?
You can find the speed of a reaction by recording the amount of product formed or the amount of reactant used up over time.
The steeper the line on the graph, the faster the rate of a reaction. Over time the line becomes less steep as the reactants are used up.
The quickest reactions have the steepest lines and become flat in the least time.
Particles must Collide with enough Energy in order to React!
The rate of a chemical reaction depends on:
How often the particles collide. The more collisions, the faster the reaction is. E.g. doubling the frequency of collisions doubles the rate.
The energy transferred during a collision. Particles have to collide with enough energy for the collision to be successful.
Minimum amount of energy that particles need to react is called Activation Energy.
Factors that increase the number of collisions the amount of energy particles collide with will increase the rate of the reaction.
