What does a catalyst do in chemical reactions?

What role does

activation energy play in chemical reactions?
Summary

Energy profile for the reaction

For a chemical reaction to occur, the reacting particles must collide with one
another. The rate of the reaction depends on the frequency of collisions. Reacting
particles can form products when they collide with one another provided those
collisions have enough kinetic energy and the correct orientation. Particles that
lack the necessary kinetic energy may collide, but the particles will simply bounce
off one another unchanged.
A reaction will not take place unless the particles collide with a certain minimum
energy called the activation energy of the reaction. Activation energy is the
minimum energy required to make a reaction occur. This can be illustrated on an
energy profile for the reaction.
The reacting particles must collide in order for a chemical reaction to take place.
The frequency of collisions determines the reaction rate. When reacting particles
collide, they can produce products if the collisions have enough kinetic energy and
are in the right orientation. Particles with insufficient kinetic energy may collide,
but they will merely bounce off each other, unchanged.
A reaction will not occur until the particles collide with a particular minimum
energy, known as the reaction's activation energy. The smallest amount of energy
required to initiate a reaction is known as activation energy. On an energy profile
for the reaction, this can be seen as shown above.
A catalysed pathway has a lower activation energy.

What is a chemical reaction?

A chemical reaction occurs when one or more reactants (also known as reactants)
are changed into one or more products (also known as products). The constituent
atoms of the reactants are rearranged in a chemical reaction, resulting in the
formation of various substances as products.
What causes a chemical reaction and how does it happen?
The question may appear straightforward, but the solution is anything but.
Consider a straightforward reaction. 2HCl = H2 + Cl2
Everything on the earth finds a way to relax by going to its lowest energy level.
Molecules are no different. If you combine one H2 and one Cl2 molecule, they will
choose to be in the lower energy state of HCl. However, nothing will happen until
you provide the energy required to break the H-H and Cl-Cl bonds. The energy that
is needed to break the bonds of reactant molecules is the activation energy of the
reaction.
Reaction rate increases with temperature
Reaction speeds often increase as temperature rises because more thermal
energy is available to attain the activation energy required to break bonds
between atoms. Reactions can go in either a forward or backward direction until
they finish or find equilibrium. The term "spontaneous" refers to reactions that
proceed in the forward direction to approach equilibrium without requiring any
free energy input. Non-spontaneous reactions require free energy input to
proceed.
What determines the outcome of a chemical reaction?
When competing paths lead to various products, the composition in a reaction
product mixture determines whether thermodynamics or kinetics regulates the
reaction.
Thermodynamics controls a reaction or kinetic controls a chemical reaction is
decided by the composition in a reaction product mixture when competing
pathways lead to different products
A reaction can be thermodynamically favorable but still kinetically unfavorable
Because thermodynamics deals with state functions, it can be used to describe the
overall properties, behavior, and equilibrium composition of a system. It is not
concerned with the particular pathway by which physical or chemical changes
occur, however, so it cannot address the rate at which a particular process will
occur.
Because product A's activation energy is lower than product B's, but product B is
more stable, the distinction is important when product A forms faster than
product B. A is the kinetic product in this situation, and it is favoured under kinetic
control, while B is the thermodynamic product, and it is favoured under
thermodynamic control. The reaction circumstances, such as temperature,
pressure, or solvent, influence whether the kinetically regulated or
thermodynamically controlled reaction pathway is preferred. This is only true if
the two routes' activation energies differ, with one having a lower Ea (energy of
activation) than the other.
The final composition of the system is determined by the presence of
thermodynamic or kinetic control.
A reaction can be thermodynamically favorable but still kinetically unfavorable.
Activation energy and chemical reaction
Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution

Because activation energy is so important in determining whether a collision will

result in a reaction, knowing the proportion of particles present with high enough
energies to react when they collide is useful. The particles present in any system
will have a wide range of energies. This may be shown in gases on a graph called
the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution as shown above, which is a plot that shows
the number of particles with each energy.
The total number of particles present is determined by the area under the curve.
Keep in mind that for a reaction to take place, particles must collide with energies
equal to or greater than the reaction's activation energy. A green line marks the
activation energy on the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution:

When the particles contact, you'll notice that the vast majority of them have
insufficient energy to react. Either the form of the curve must be changed or the
activation energy must be adjusted further to the left to lower energies in order
for them to react.
Role of catalysts

Catalysts are chemicals that speed up the rate of a chemical reaction without
consuming energy in the process. As a result, a catalyst does not appear in the
overall stoichiometry of the reaction it catalyses, but it does have to exist in at
least one of the elementary reactions in the catalysed reaction's mechanism.
Although the catalysed pathway has a lower Ea, the net change in energy (the
difference between the energy of the reactants and the energy of the products) is
unaffected by the presence of a catalyst, see the image. Nonetheless, at the same
temperature, the reaction rate of a catalysed reaction is faster than that of an
uncatalyzed reaction due to its lower Ea.
Because a catalyst lowers the energy barrier, it enhances the rate of forward and
reverse reactions by the same amount.
Credit: Google