6.1 2 Factors Affecting Rate of Reaction

Factors Affecting Rate
of Reaction
How does changing the factors affect the rate of a reaction?
Effect of concentration
 Increasing concentration of one or more aqueous
reactants increases the rate of reaction.
 The higher the concentration, the greater the number of
reactant particles per unit volume.
 Reactant particles collide more often and the total number of
collisions per unit time increases.
 Hence, rate of reaction increases.
low concentration high concentration

Effect of concentration
 Explosive reactions take place in mines when
combustible gases e.g. methane catch fire.
 The high concentration (and thus high pressure) of

confined gases causes a very rapid reaction to occur.
Effect of pressure
 Pressure changes only affect the speed of reaction where
gaseous reactants are involved.
 Increasing pressure increases the speed of reaction.
 At higher pressure, the number of gas particles per unit volume
increases.
 The reactant particles are crowded into a smaller volume
enabling the particles to collide more frequently. This is similar
to increasing the concentration of solutions.
 The total number of collisions per unit time increases.
 Hence, speed of reaction increases.
 High pressures are often used in industrial processes to
speed up the chemical reactions. For example, in the Haber
process, 250 atm is used.
Effect of particle size
 Decreasing the particle size of a solid reactant
increases the speed of reaction.
 Breaking up a solid reactant into smaller pieces increases
its total surface area.
 Exposing a larger surface area for collisions between
reactant particles results in more collisions per unit time.
 Hence, speed of reaction increases.
large particle = low surface area small particles = high surface area
Effect of particle size
 Explosive reactions take place when fine flour or coal
powder catches fire.
 A very rapid reaction occurs because of the large

surface area provided by the fine powder.
 Hence, flour mill workers or coal miners never light a

match inside the flour mills or coal mines.
 Food cooks faster and more thoroughly when it is cut

into small pieces because of the larger surface area.
Effect of temperature
 http://www.chem.iastate.edu/group/Greenbowe/section
s/projectfolder/flashfiles/kinetics2/kinetics.html
 From the results of the simulation, what is the effect of

temperature on reaction rate? How can you tell from
the shape of the graph?
 Explain the effect on temperature on reaction rate using

the collision theory.
 Increasing temperature increases the rate of reaction.
 At higher temperatures, reactant particles have more
kinetic energy to move around faster and more
vigorously.
 There will be greater chance for collisions per unit time as
the faster moving reactant particles collide with each
other more frequently.
 More collisions per unit time produce a faster speed of
reaction.
 Also, there is a greater proportion of particles with energy
greater than Ea, thus allowing for more collisions to result
in reaction.
 Hence, temperature has the greatest effect on the speed
of a reaction as it affects both the collision frequency and
energy of the reactant particles.
 The rate of a reaction approximately doubles when the
temperature rises by 10oC.
 By controlling the temperature, the rate of reactions can
be decreased or increased.
Effect of a catalyst
 A catalyst is a chemical substance which alters the
speed of reaction without itself being chemically
changed at the end of the reaction.
 A catalyst speeds up a reaction by providing an

alternative reaction mechanism which produces more
effective collisions per unit time.
A + B  C+ D Overall chemical reaction
A + E  AE Reactant A forms a reactive intermediate AE with catalyst E
AE + B  C+ D AE reacts with reactant B to form products C and D
catalyst
 The alternative pathway to the products also requires
less activation energy, thus increasing the speed of
reaction as more of the collisions result in reaction.
Uncatalysed reaction
Catalysed reaction
A+B
Chemical
potential Reactants
energy
H
C+D
Products
Time
 Different reactions need different types of catalysts. Most catalysts
are specific to a reaction.
 Transition metals and their compounds make good catalysts.
 Enzymes are biological catalysts.
 Enzymes are proteins which act as catalysts in speeding up
biochemical reactions in living organisms.
 They are highly specific and sensitive to changes in temperature
and pH.
 They will only function within a narrow range of temperature,
beyond which they will be inactive (if the temperature is too low) or
denatured (if the temperature is too high).
 A catalyst does not change the amount of products formed from

the reaction.
Catalyst Application
Manganese(IV) oxide Decomposition of hydrogen peroxide

MnO2 H2O2(l)  H2O(l) + O2(g)
Iron powder Synthesis of ammonia in the Haber Process

Fe 3H2(g) + N2(g)  2NH3(g)
Vanadium(V) oxide or platinum Synthesis of sulphur trioxide in the Contact Process

powder 2SO2(g) + O2(g)  2SO3(g)
V2O5 or Pt
Nickel Hydrogenation of oils

Ni RCH=CHR + H2  RCH2CH2R
Synthesis of hydrogen in Steam Reforming
CH4(g) + H2O(g)  3H2(g) + CO(g)
Amylase Breaking up of starch molecules to sugar molecules
Task
 Draw a Maxwell-Boltzmann curve to represent a
catalysed and uncatalysed reaction.

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Factors Affecting Rate

low concentration high concentration

 The high concentration (and thus high pressure) of

 A very rapid reaction occurs because of the large

 Hence, flour mill workers or coal miners never light a

 Food cooks faster and more thoroughly when it is cut

 From the results of the simulation, what is the effect of

 Explain the effect on temperature on reaction rate using

 A catalyst speeds up a reaction by providing an

A + E  AE Reactant A forms a reactive intermediate AE with catalyst E

AE + B  C+ D AE reacts with reactant B to form products C and D

 A catalyst does not change the amount of products formed from

Manganese(IV) oxide Decomposition of hydrogen peroxide

Iron powder Synthesis of ammonia in the Haber Process

Vanadium(V) oxide or platinum Synthesis of sulphur trioxide in the Contact Process

Nickel Hydrogenation of oils

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