© www.CHEMSHEETS.co.

uk 23-Feb-2016 Chemsheets A2 1001 Page 1

 Kinetics - Rates of Reaction

What is reaction rate?

 The rate of a chemical reaction is a measure of how fast a reaction takes place.
 It is defined as the change in concentration of a reactant or product per unit time.

Collision theory

 For particles to react they must collide with sufficient energy to react and at the correct orientation.
 The minimum energy particles need to react is called the activation energy, Ea.

Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution

 The particles in substance do not all have the

same amount of energy. Number
of
 The energy of the particles in a gas is shown by molecules
a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution.
 There are no particles with zero energy (i.e. they
all have some energy).
 The area under the curve represents the total
number of particles.
 The peak of the curve gives the energy that more
particles have than any other energy (sometimes Ea
Emp Energy
labelled Emp, i.e. most probable energy).

 The curve never touches the x-axis, as there is no maximum energy for molecules.
 The activation energy (Ea) can be shown on the axis. Often only a small proportion of molecules have energy
greater than or equal to the activation energy.
 When particles collide with each other they gain or lose energy, and so the energy of each individual particle is
constantly changing. This means that a particle that does not have enough energy to react may gain enough in
a collision so that it can react in a further collision.

© www.CHEMSHEETS.co.uk 23-Feb-2016 Chemsheets A2 1001 Page 2

 Compare the two curves shown on the right.
 As the temperature increases, the Number Lower temperature
average energy of the particles increases of
and so the distribution curve changes shape. molecules
The total area under the curve stays the
same as there are the same number of
particles. Therefore at higher temperatures, the
peak will move to higher energy but less
particles will have that energy. Higher temperature
 Notice that more molecules possess energies
greater than or equal to Ea at the higher
temperature.

Emp Emp Ea Energy

Lower Higher
T T

Factors affecting rates

Factor Effect Reason

Concentration of a The higher the concentration, the Particles are closer together and so there
solution faster the reaction. are more frequent successful collisions

Surface area of a solid The more pieces a solid is broken There are more particles exposed at the
up into, the greater the surface surface that can be collided with, and so
area (a powder has a massive there are more frequent successful collisions
surface area).
The greater the surface area, the
faster the reaction.

Pressure of gases The higher the pressure, the faster Particles are closer together and so there
(gases that are the reaction. are more frequent successful collisions
reactants)

Temperature The higher the temperature, the Particles have more energy and so a greater
faster the reaction. proportion of the collisions are successful.
The particles also move faster and so
collisions are more frequent. Therefore there
are more frequent successful collisions.

Catalyst A catalyst is a substance that Catalysts provide an alternative route /

increases the rate of a reaction but mechanism for the reaction, which has a
is not used up. lower activation energy and therefore a
greater proportion of the collisions are
successful.

© www.CHEMSHEETS.co.uk 23-Feb-2016 Chemsheets A2 1001 Page 3

 SECTION 2 – Finding rates using gradients
 Graphs can be plotted to show how the concentration of a reactant or product changes during the course of a
reaction.
 The gradient of this graph at any time equals the rate of reaction at that time.
 The steeper the line, the faster the reaction.
 We can calculate the gradient by drawing a tangent to the line at any point (tip – make the gradient line quite
long – if it is too short then there will be a larger degree of error in the gradient calculation stemming from
reading the values)
 In the graph below, the rate at 0 seconds (the rate at the start – the initial rate) is 0.019 mol dm s . The rate
-3 -1
-3 -1
after 40 seconds is 0.0048 mol dm s .
 Most reactions are rapid at the start, and then slow down due to there being fewer reactant particles
remaining as time goes on, so there are less frequent successful collisions.

0.6

0.5
+ Gradient (at time 0 s)
= change in vertical = 0.5 = 0.019 mol dm-3 s-1
change in horizontal 26
0.4
Concentration (mol/dm3)

0.3

Gradient (at time 40 s)

0.2 = change in vertical = 0.28 = 0.0048 mol dm-3 s-1

change in horizontal 58

0.1
+

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
time (s)

© www.CHEMSHEETS.co.uk 23-Feb-2016 Chemsheets A2 1001 Page 4

 TASK 1 – Finding rates using gradients

1 Magnesium reacts with hydrochloric acid to form hydrogen gas. The data below shows how the hydrochloric
acid concentration varied with time.

Time (s) 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
-3
[HCl] (mol dm ) 1.00 0.51 0.25 0.16 0.13 0.11 0.09 0.08 0.06

a) Plot a graph of acid concentration against time.

b) By drawing gradients, calculate the rate at 0, 10, 20 and 30 seconds.
c) Explain why the rate changes during the reaction as it does.

2 Sodium reacts with water to form sodium hydroxide solution and hydrogen gas. The data below shows how
the concentration of sodium hydroxide solution varies with time.

Time (s) 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

-3
[NaOH] (mol dm ) 0.00 0.23 0.37 0.45 0.49 0.51 0.53 0.55 0.56

a) Plot a graph of sodium hydroxide concentration against time.

b) By drawing gradients, calculate the rate at 0, 20 and 40 seconds.

© www.CHEMSHEETS.co.uk 23-Feb-2016 Chemsheets A2 1001 Page 5