Tuesday 7th February 2023

8.2b Effect of surface area on rate of reaction.

Do Now:

1. Granules

Keeping the mass the same but breaking a solid into smaller pieces increases the surface area. This
means that there are more particles available on the surface which can react. Since there are more
particles are available to react, more of the collisions per second will be successful as they have
more energy than the activation. This means that increasing the surface area will increase the rate of
reaction.

For a reaction to happen, particles need to collide with enough energy to overcome the activation
energy. When a substance is heated up, the particles move faster and with more kinetic energy.
More of the collisions are likely to be successful as they will have more energy than the activation
energy.

The activation energy is the minimum amout of energy needed to start the reaction.

Increasing the activation causes the particles to vibrate more and have more kinetic energy. Since
the energy of the particles has increased, more of the collisions are likely to be successful. A
successful collision is when the particles collide with an energy above the activation energy.