6.1.5

Key Factors of Rate of Reaction

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Rate of Reaction - Key Factors

The main factors that affect the rate of chemical reactions are:

Concentration of dissolved reactants

Concentration of dissolved reactants

  • Increasing the concentration increases the collision frequency. This increases the rate of reaction.
Pressure of gas reactants

Pressure of gas reactants

  • Increasing pressure is like increasing the concentration.
  • It has the same outcome of increasing the collision frequency, which increases the rate of reaction.
Temperature

Temperature

  • Increasing the temperature increases the rate at which collisions happen.
  • Increasing the temperature increases the energy of reactant particles. This means that a greater proportion of the particles will have more energy than the activation energy that is needed.
  • Together, these lead to more successful collisions. This increases the rate of reaction.
Surface area of solid reactants

Surface area of solid reactants

  • Increasing the surface area increases the collision frequency. This increases the rate of reaction.
  • This is often done by breaking up solids into smaller lumps (e.g. powders).
  • This increase in surface area to volume ratio makes sure that more particles are exposed to attack.
Catalysts

Catalysts

  • Substances that increase a chemical reaction's rate without reducing in quantity during the reaction are called catalysts.
Jump to other topics
1

Atomic Structure

2

Chemical Bonding

3

Quantitative Chemistry

4

Chemical Changes

5

Energy Changes

6

The Rate & Extent of Chemical Change

7

Organic Chemistry

8

Chemical Analysis

9

Chemistry of the Atmosphere

10

Using Resources

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