Name ___________________________________________ Date ________

Reactions and Enzymes

 Log on to www.explorelearning.com and launch: Collision Theory

Left outside, an old iron pot can take weeks to react with oxygen in the air and develop a coat of iron oxide, or
rust. But given the right conditions, iron and oxygen can react in a few seconds, as when steel wool is burned in
pure oxygen. By changing the conditions in which reactants meet, the rate of the chemical reaction can be greatly
altered.

Observing a Chemical Reaction

1. In the Gizmo™, select the ANIMATION pane. Check no catalyst, and watch.

a. Sketch the two reactants and two products of this reaction.

2. When the two molecules meet, the resulting unstable combined molecule is called the activated complex.

In reality, this form lasts for a tiny fraction of a second. In this reaction, the orientation of the two

molecules is important. The reaction will not happen if the molecules collide in a different way, as in the

examples below.

3. Now select With catalyst, and watch. A catalyst is a molecule that helps the reaction along. Catalysts that

regulate reactions in living organisms are called enzymes.

a. Draw the shape of the catalyst molecule.

4. The part of the catalyst that binds to the reactants is called the active site.

a. How does the shape of the active site relate to the shapes of the two reactants?

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5. Catalysts are often described by the lock and key model.

a. How is a catalyst-reactant combination similar to a lock and key? ____________________________

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b. Was the catalyst itself changed by the reaction? (Circle one) Yes or No

c. Based on what you see, could it be used again? (Circle one) Yes or No

6. Select the CONTROLS pane, and check that the default settings are selected: Reactant concentration is 1.0

mol/L, Catalyst concentration is 0.0 mol/L, Surface area is Minimum, and Temperature is 100°C. Click Play,

and observe the molecules.

a. Describe the motion of the blue reactant molecules. (Circle one) Random or Orderly

b. Are all the molecules moving at the same speed? (Circle one) Yes or No

c. Is the reaction happening? (Circle one) Yes or No

d. How do you know? ______________________________________________________________

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7. Click Reset, and set the Temperature to its minimum value, 0°C. Click Play and observe.

a. How does the molecular motion compare to the motion at 100°C?

(Circle One) Faster Same Slower

8. Click Reset, and play the simulation at 200°C.

a. How does the movement of molecules change as the temperature is increased?

(Circle one) Faster Same Slower

b. Is the change in molecular speed very great? (Circle one) Yes or No

c. How do you think this affects the rate of the reaction? (Circle one) Faster Same Slower

9. Click Reset. Set the Reactant concentration to 2.0 mol/L, and the Surface area to Maximum.

a. How does changing the concentration of the reactants affect what you see in the SIMULATION

pane? The reactants are. . . (Circle one) Double Same Half

 b. How does a maximum surface area affect what you see in the SIMULATION pane?

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c. How many molecules of reactant B are exposed when the surface area is maximized?

(Circle One) All Half None

d. How many when it is minimized? (Circle One) 0 6 14 20

Half-Life of a Reaction

10. Click Reset. Check that the Reactant concentration is still 2.0 mol/L, the Catalyst concentration is 0.0 mol/L,

the Surface area is Maximum, and the Temperature is 200°C. Click Play, and observe the reaction until

completion. The number of Reactants and Products are tallied below the simulation.

11. Select the GRAPH tab, and observe the lines representing reactants and products. If the whole graph is not

visible, click on the - zoom tool to the right of the graph.

a. How does the number of reactants change over time? (Circle one) Increase Decrease

b. How does the number of products change? (Circle one) Increase Decrease

12. The rate of reaction is the rate at which the concentration of the products changes in a period of time. It is

equivalent to the slope of the products curve on the graph, where a steeper slope represents a higher

reaction rate.

a. Is the rate of reaction the same as time goes on? (Circle one) Yes No

b. If not, when is it highest?

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c. and lowest?

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d. Based on what you see in the simulation, why does the rate of reaction slow down as time goes by?

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 13. Because the rate of a reaction changes over time, a better way to compare reactions is half-life. The half-life

of a reaction is the amount of time it takes for half of the molecules to react. Select the TABLE tab, and

scroll through the values.

a. At what time did the percentage of reactants first reach 50%? ________________

14. Click Reset, and then play the experiment again three more times, pausing when the percentage of

reactants is 50% and recording the half life. ___________ ___________ ___________

a. How consistent was the half-life?

(Circle One) Same each time Sometimes Different Different each time

b. Calculate the average half-life from your trials, _________.

c. Why is it important to do multiple trials and average them? ________________________________

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15. When a chemical reaction is performed in the lab, billions and billions of molecules are involved. How

would this affect the "bumpiness" of the product concentration vs. time graph?

(Circle one) Bumpier Graph Same Graph Smoother Graph

16. Would you expect as much variation in the results from trial to trial? (Circle one) More Same Less

Factors Affecting Reaction Rates

17. Based on what you have seen so far, write a few hypotheses in your notes.

a. How will increased temperature affect the reaction rate? (Circle one) Faster No Effect Slower

b. How will increased concentration of reactants affect the reaction rate?

(Circle one) Faster No Effect Slower

c. How will increased the surface area affect the reaction rate?

(Circle one) Faster No Effect Slower

d. How will the presence of a catalyst affect the reaction rate?

(Circle one) Faster No Effect Slower

 18. Set the Reactant concentration to 2.0 mol/L, the Catalyst concentration to 0.0 mol/L, and the Surface area

to Maximum. Keeping those variables constant, find the average half-life for the three temperatures below

using two trials a piece.

Temperature Trial 1 Trial 2 Average half-life

500C
1000C
2000C

19. In general, how does temperature affect the rate of this reaction? (Circle one) Faster No Effect Slower

20. For the reaction to proceed, reactant molecules must collide with a certain amount of energy, known as the

activation energy.

a. As the temperature rises, how does the number of collisions above the activation energy change?

(Circ le one) Increase Same Decrease

21. Using the same procedure as the temperature test, experiment to determine the effect of Reactant

concentration, Catalyst concentration, and Surface area on the half-life of the reaction. In each set of

experiments, remember to keep every variable the same except for the variable you are investigating using

the defaults of 1.0mol/L, .15mol/L, Maximum and 100 oC.

Reactant Concentration Trial 1 Trial 2 Average half-life

mol/L
.5
1.5
2

Catalyst Concentration Trial 1 Trial 2 Average half-life

mol/L
.15
.20
.25
a. In a normal reaction, the reactants have to collide at just the right orientation to react. How does a

catalyst make this process easier? _____________________________________________________

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Surface Area Trial 1 Trial 2 Average half-life

Min
Max
a. What is the relationship between Reactant concentration and the rate of the reaction (no catalyst)?

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b. Why do you think this is? _______________________________________________________________

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c. What is the relationship between the Catalyst concentration and reaction rate?

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d. Why do you think this is? _______________________________________________________________

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e. When is there a limit to how much catalyst is actually helpful?

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f. What is the effect of Surface area on reaction rate? _____________________________________________

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g. Why do you think this is? _______________________________________________________________

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h. Which variable had the greatest effect on the rate of this reaction?

(Circle One) Reactant Concentration Catalyst Concentration Temperature Surface Area

i. Explain. ____________________________________________________________________________

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22. Take the quiz at the end of the gizmo. Correct answers will become bonus points.