Kinetics

 Thermodynamics often can be used to predict whether a reaction will occur spontaneously,
but it gives very little information about the speed at which a reaction occurs
 Kinetics is the study of the speed of reactions and is largely an experimental science
 Some general qualitative ideas about reaction speed may be developed, but accurate
quantitative relationships require experimental data to be collected
 For a chemical reaction to occur, there must be a collision between the reactant particles.
o That collision is necessary to transfer kinetic energy, to break reactant chemical bonds
and form new bonds in the product
o If the collision doesn’t transfer enough energy, no reaction will occur. And the collision
must take place with the proper orientation at the correct place on the molecule, the
reactive site

Five factors affect the rates of a chemical reaction:

1. Nature of the reactants—Large, complex molecules tend to react more slowly than smaller
ones because statistically there is a greater chance of collisions occurring in the wrong place on
the molecule, that is, not at the reactive site

2. The temperature—Temperature is a measure of the average kinetic energy of the molecules.

The higher the temperature, the higher the kinetic energy and the greater the chance that
enough energy will be transferred to cause the reaction. Also, the higher the temperature, the
greater the number of collisions and the greater the chance of a collision at the reactive site

3. The concentration of reactants—The higher the concentration of reactants, the greater

the chance of collision and (normally) the greater the reaction rate. For gaseous reactants, the
pressure is directly related to the concentration; the greater the pressure, the greater the reaction
rate

4. Physical state of reactants—When reactants are mixed in the same physical state, the
reaction rates should be higher than if they are in different states, because there is a greater
chance of collision. Also, gases and liquids tend to react faster than solids because of the
increase in surface area. The more chance for collision, the faster the reaction rate

5. Catalysts—A catalyst is a substance that speeds up the reaction rate and is (at least
theoretically) recoverable at the end of the reaction in an unchanged form. Catalysts
accomplish this by reducing the activation energy of the reaction. Activation energy is that
minimum amount of energy that must be supplied to the reactants in order to initiate or start the
reaction. Many times the activation energy is supplied by the kinetic energy of the reactants