Factors Affecting the Rate

of Chemical Reactions

By Prof. Liwayway Memije-Cruz

 Chemical Reaction
• a process in which one or more substances,
the reactants, are converted to one or more
different substances, the products.
Substances are either chemical elements or
compounds.
• rearranges the constituent atoms of the
reactants to create different substances as
products.
• an integral part of technology, of culture,
and indeed of life itself. Burning fuels,
smelting iron, making glass and pottery,
brewing beer, and making wine and cheese
are among many examples of activities
incorporating chemical reactions that have
been known and used for thousands of
years.
• Chemical reactions
abound in the
geology of Earth, in
the atmosphere and
oceans, and in a
vast array of
complicated
processes that occur
in all living
systems.
Rate of chemical reaction is the
speed at which a reaction proceeds.
Factors Affecting the Rate of
Chemical Reactions:
Factors Affecting the Rate of
Chemical Reactions:
How does chemical nature of
reactants affect the rate of a reaction?
• During chemical reactions, chemical bonds
are broken and new bonds are formed.
• The nature (or type) of these chemical bonds
- and how readily they are broken and
formed - plays a critical role in the rate of a
reaction. When the reaction involves
primarily the exchange of electrons ,
reactions tend to be very rapid.
Phase and Surface Area Effects
• The larger the
surface area, the
faster the rate of
reaction.
• A pile of flour
is only
scorched by a
flame (right),
but when the
same flour is
sprayed into
the flame, it
How will increasing the concentration of
reactants affect the rate of a chemical reaction?

• It will increase the reaction rate

or leave it the same, depending
on whether the particular
reactant added is one that is
limiting the reaction rate before
the addition.
How does decreasing the concentration of the
reactants affect the rate of a chemical reaction?

• Decreasing the concentrations of

all the reactants will almost always
decrease the rate of the reaction.
Decreasing the concentration of
only reactants not involved in the
rate determining step will not
change the reaction rate at all.
What is the reactant affected by an
enzyme in a chemical reaction?
• substrate
• any substance upon which an enzyme
acts.
 Concentration Effects

• Mixing sucrose with dilute sulfuric acid in a

beaker (a, right) produces a simple solution.
Mixing the same amount of sucrose with
concentrated sulfuric acid (a, left) results in a
dramatic reaction (b) that eventually produces a
column of black porous graphite (c) and an
intense smell of burning sugar.
How does the concentration of reactants
affect the rate of a reaction?

• Increasing the concentration

increases the molecules' collision
frequency.
• Increasing the concentration of the
reactants increases the rate of the
reaction.
 Temperature
• sensation of warmth or
coldness felt from
contact with it.
• hotness and coldness
of an object.
• degree of sensible heat
or cold.
• expressed in terms of a
specific scale.
Temperature Scales
 Temperature Effects
• An increase in
temperature usually
increases the rate of
reaction. As heat is
added, the average
kinetic and internal
energies of reacting
molecules increase so
the rate of reaction
increases too.
 Catalyst
• a substance that participates in a
chemical reaction and increases
the reaction rate without
undergoing a net chemical change
itself.
 Catalyst Effects
• A solution of hydrogen peroxide
(H2O2) decomposes in water so
slowly that the change is not
noticeable (left). Iodide ion acts as a
catalyst for the decomposition of
H2O2, producing oxygen gas. The
solution turns brown because of the
reaction of H2O2 with I−, which
generates small amounts of I3−
(center). The enzyme catalase is about
3 billion times more effective than
iodide as a catalyst. Even in the
presence of very small amounts of
enzyme, the decomposition is
vigorous (right).
 References
• https://catalog.flatworldknowledge.co
m/bookhub/reader/1790?e=averill_1.0-
ch14_s01
• https://www.britannica.com/science/ch
emical-reaction
• http://www.answers.com/Q/What_caus
es_the_concentration_of_reactants_to_
affect_the_reaction_rate#slide=1