Factors That Affect the Rate of Reaction

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Factors That Affect the Rate of Reaction

Background

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We can measure the rate of reaction by measuring the rate of change by

either,

- one of the reactants disappearing with time

- one of the product forming with time.

A chemical reaction can only occur between particles when they collide

(hit each other). Particles may be atoms, ions or molecules.

There is a minimum amount of energy which colliding particles need in

order to react with each other. If the colliding particles have less

then this minimum energy, then they just bounce off each other and no

reaction occurs. This minimum is called the minimum energy.

Collision Theory:

- particles must collide

- with sufficient energy to break existing bonds

- with the correct orientation

Measuring rates:

We can measure how quickly products form or we can also measure how

quickly reactants are used up.

Here are some graphs which you can get whilst studying these two

different methods,

Factors that affect the rate of reaction:

1.Raising the temperature has the same effect on all three reactions.

Raising the temperature makes the particles move faster. This means

that more particles collide with each other per second.

The rate of the reaction increases. Also, the faster the particles are

travelling, the greater is the proportion of them which will have the

required minimum energy for reaction to occur. As a general guide,

raising the temperature of a reaction by 10 °C

will double the rate of the reaction.

The gradient of the plot will be twice as steep.

Here is a prediction graph for an experiment investigating the effect

of temperature on the rate of a reaction:

2.Increasing the concentration (in solution).

Increasing the concentration of a substance in solution

means that there will be more particles per dm3 of that

substance.Themore particles that there are, the more will collide per

second,

and so the rate of the reaction increases.

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