In 

physical chemistry, the Arrhenius equation is a formula for the temperature dependence

of reaction rates. The equation was proposed by Svante Arrhenius in 1889, based on the work
of Dutch chemist Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff who had noted in 1884 that the van 't Hoff
equation for the temperature dependence of equilibrium constants suggests such a formula for
the rates of both forward and reverse reactions. This equation has a vast and important
application in determining the rate of chemical reactions and for calculation of energy of
activation. Arrhenius provided a physical justification and interpretation for the formula.[1][2][3]
[4]
 Currently, it is best seen as an empirical relationship.[5]: 188  It can be used to model the
temperature variation of diffusion coefficients, population of crystal vacancies, creep rates, and
many other thermally-induced processes/reactions. The Eyring equation, developed in 1935,
also expresses the relationship between rate and energy.

Equation[edit]

In almost all practical cases,  and k increases rapidly with T.

Mathematically, at very high temperatures so that , k levels off and approaches A as a limit, but this case
does not occur under practical conditions.

The Arrhenius equation gives the dependence of the rate constant of a chemical reaction on
the absolute temperature as

where

 k is the rate constant (frequency of collisions resulting in a reaction),

 T is the absolute temperature (in Kelvin or degree Rankine),
 A is the pre-exponential factor. Arrhenius originally considered A to be a
temperature-independent constant for each chemical reaction.[6] However more
recent treatments include some temperature dependence - see Modified Arrhenius
equation below.
 Ea is the activation energy for the reaction (in the same units as RT),
 R is the universal gas constant.[1][2][4]
Alternatively, the equation may be expressed as
where

 Ea is the activation energy for the reaction (in the same units as k T),
B

 kB is the Boltzmann constant.

The only difference is the energy units of Ea: the former form uses energy per mole, which is
common in chemistry, while the latter form uses energy per molecule directly, which is
common in physics. The different units are accounted for in using either the gas constant, R, or
the Boltzmann constant, kB, as the multiplier of temperature T.
The units of the pre-exponential factor A are identical to those of the rate constant and will vary
depending on the order of the reaction. If the reaction is first order it has the units: s−1, and for
that reason it is often called the frequency factor or attempt frequency of the reaction. Most
simply, k is the number of collisions that result in a reaction per second, A is the number of
collisions (leading to a reaction or not) per second occurring with the proper orientation to
react[7] and  is the probability that any given collision will result in a reaction. It can be seen that
either increasing the temperature or decreasing the activation energy (for example through the
use of catalysts) will result in an increase in rate of reaction.
Given the small temperature range of kinetic studies, it is reasonable to approximate the
activation energy as being independent of the temperature. Similarly, under a wide range of
practical conditions, the weak temperature dependence of the pre-exponential factor is
negligible compared to the temperature dependence of the  factor; except in the case of
"barrierless" diffusion-limited reactions, in which case the pre-exponential factor is dominant
and is directly observable.
With this equation it can be roughly estimated that the rate of reaction increases by a factor of
about 2 or 3 for every 10°C rise in temperature.
The term  denotes the fraction of molecules with energy greater than or equal to .[8]

Arrhenius plot[edit]
Main article: Arrhenius plot

Arrhenius linear plot: ln k against 1/T.

Taking the natural logarithm of Arrhenius equation yields:

Rearranging yields:
This has the same form as an equation for a straight line:

where x is the reciprocal of T.
So, when a reaction has a rate constant that obeys the Arrhenius equation, a plot of
ln k versus T−1 gives a straight line, whose gradient and intercept can be used to
determine Ea and A . This procedure has become so common in experimental chemical
kinetics that practitioners have taken to using it to define the activation energy for a reaction.
That is the activation energy is defined to be (−R) times the slope of a plot of ln k vs. (1/T):

Modified Arrhenius equation[edit]

The modified Arrhenius equation[9] makes explicit the temperature dependence of the pre-
exponential factor. The modified equation is usually of the form

The original Arrhenius expression above corresponds to n = 0. Fitted rate constants typically lie
in the range −1 < n < 1. Theoretical analyses yield various predictions for n. It has been
pointed out that "it is not feasible to establish, on the basis of temperature studies of the rate
constant, whether the predicted T1/2 dependence of the pre-exponential factor is observed
experimentally".[5]: 190  However, if additional evidence is available, from theory and/or from
experiment (such as density dependence), there is no obstacle to incisive tests of the
Arrhenius law.
Another common modification is the stretched exponential form[citation needed]

where β is a dimensionless number of order 1. This is typically regarded as a purely empirical

correction or fudge factor to make the model fit the data, but can have theoretical meaning, for
example showing the presence of a range of activation energies or in special cases like the
Mott variable range hopping.

Theoretical interpretation of the equation[edit]

Arrhenius's concept of activation energy[edit]
Arrhenius argued that for reactants to transform into products, they must first acquire a
minimum amount of energy, called the activation energy Ea. At an absolute temperature T, the
fraction of molecules that have a kinetic energy greater than Ea can be calculated
from statistical mechanics. The concept of activation energy explains the exponential nature of
the relationship, and in one way or another, it is present in all kinetic theories.
The calculations for reaction rate constants involve an energy averaging over a Maxwell–
Boltzmann distribution with  as lower bound and so are often of the type of incomplete gamma
functions, which turn out to be proportional to .