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Rates of Reaction and Energy Changes

Activation energy and reaction profiles

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 2

Overview

What activation energy is and why methane needs a spark to react, how temperature and the size of the activation energy affect reactions, and reading reaction profiles for exothermic, endothermic and catalysed reactions.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

What is activation energy, and how does it explain a spark igniting methane, the effect of heating, and fast reactions at room temperature?

Key term

Explain the term activation energy.

Key term

Explain why a mixture of methane and air does not react until a spark is supplied.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Explain the term activation energy.

    Model answer

    Activation energy is the minimum energy that colliding particles must have for a reaction to take place.

  2. 2

    What happens to particles that collide with less than the activation energy?

    Model answer

    They simply bounce apart again without reacting.

  3. 3

    Explain why a mixture of methane and air does not react until a spark is supplied.

    Model answer

    The particles need the activation energy before they can react, and the spark supplies it.

  4. 4

    How does raising the temperature affect the number of particles that have at least the activation energy?

    Model answer

    More particles have at least the activation energy, so a greater proportion of collisions are successful.

  5. 5

    Would a reaction with a low activation energy tend to be fast or slow at room temperature?

    Model answer

    Fast, because most collisions already carry enough energy to cause a reaction.

  6. 6

    On a reaction profile, what quantity is shown up the vertical axis and what is shown along the horizontal axis?

    Model answer

    Energy is shown up the vertical axis and the progress of the reaction along the horizontal axis.

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