Reaction Rate Chemistry

Energy and Chemical

Reactions

Reaction Rate
The reaction rate for a chemical system is
defined as the time that it takes for the
reactants to be converted into products.
The faster this occurs, the faster the
chemical reaction, and vice versa.
NO CHEMICAL REACTION IS INSTANTANEOUS.

Reaction Rates
The reason for this is that in order for a chemical
reaction to occur:
1. Compounds must separate-this requires
energy, and work is done.
Heat =Energy =W=Force X Distance
2.
Particles are broken apart and separated by
DIPOLAR WATER MOLECULES.
3.
See next slide
3. Ions must fight through the water to
recombine.
4. All of this takes time.

Dissolving
For any chemical reaction to occur, two
things must happen. Particles must
separate and then they must recombine.
The process of dissolving is different for all
molecules. The reason being is that not all
chemical bonds have the same strength.
Some atoms will have a 3+ charge while
others have a 1+ charge.

Dissolving
For the actual particles to move apart, energy
is needed. In this case, the water molecules
will use energy to pull the particles apart.
When they do this, the temperature of a
liquid will go down as heat is removed from
the water.
When the water molecules surround the ions,
they combine with a weak bond, and heat is
given back to the water.

Dissolving
Depending on the strength of the bond, the
dissolving may use a lot or little energy. A
strong bond will use a lot of heat energy and
the temperature of the beaker will drop. As
the ion recombines with water, energy is
given back to the solution. If this energy is
LESS than what was used to separate the
compound, the overall net temperature will
go down. The reverse will cause a
temperature increase. (You can see these on
slides 18 and 24).

Here you can see an IONIC compound, salt. The dipolar

water molecules pull the ions from the crystalline solid.
Since the water itself is dipolar, they now combine with
the water and keep the particles from recombining.

Notice in this picture that the dipolar water combines

differently for a positive and negative ion. The waters of
each of the ions will now begin to combine with the opposite
charges.

Here you see an example of a dipolar water molecule where

the hydrogen is slightly positive and the oxygen is slightly
negative due to unequal sharing of electrons. These dipolar
water molecules help separate and surround ions that
dissociate.

Here you see an example of how dipolar water molecules

surround ions differently. Notice that on a positive ion, like
Na, the negative part of the water combines with it. The
opposite is true with chlorine.

Water is a dipolar molecule,

meaning that the electrons are
shared unequally. When this
occurs, they act like little
magnets in the water, pulling
compounds apart. You can see
this illustrated in the pictures
above.

Collision Theory
The collision theory relates the rates
of particle contact to reaction rate.
Anything that increases particle
contact will increase the rate of
reaction.
Anything that decreases particle
contact will decrease the rate of
reaction.

In the photos above you can see examples of everyday

occurrences. On the left, rusting, which has a slow
reaction rate, as opposed to burning which is fast.

Collision Theory
Stated another way, the Collision Theory
states that anything done to alter particle
contact will affect the reaction rate.
Reaction Rate is the time that it takes for
reactants to turn into products.

Activation Energy
Activation energy is the minimum
energy that is needed for a
reaction to occur. In order for a
reaction to occur, particles must
separate, move, and recombine.
This means that particles must hit
with sufficient energy as well as
with the proper angle.

Energy
Energy is always involved in chemical
reactions. All reactions are classified
depending on whether energy is
absorbed or released.
Regardless, in any reaction,
energy is neither created nor
destroyed. It is merely changed
from one form to another.

Temperature
In the past, temperature has been defined as
the speed or vibration of particles. While
this is somewhat correct, it is not totally
correct. Temperature is actually a measure of
the total KINETIC ENERGY of a system.
To illustrate why this is a better definition,
consider two cars of different size and mass.
Each car is moving exactly at the same
speed. The larger car has more total energy
than the smaller one so it would have a
higher temperature.

Exothermic Reactions
A chemical reaction where more heat energy
is released than is absorbed is
EXOTHERMIC.
When a reaction takes place, the atoms and
molecules rearrange. When the energy is
released, the molecules in the products
have less energy than the molecules in the
reactants.
See next slide.

Exothermic
Dissolving
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e

Initial
Temperature

Final Temperature

Net Temperature
Change

Particles
Recombine with
Particles Water Molecules
Separate

Time of dissolving

Energy is needed to separate the particles

since work is being done.
Work = Force x Distance
Particles are being separated and
recombined.
Another way to visualize this is that it takes
more energy for the particles to separate
than they release when they recombine.
Most of the time this energy is heat
energy, so the net temperature
change in an exothermic reaction will
increase.
See next slide.

Endothermic Reactions
An endothermic reaction is one where energy
is absorbed rather than released. It gets
COLDER.
This means that the energy of the products is
now less than the energy of the reactants.
If the energy involved is heat energy, the
products would appear colder than the
reactants.
See next slide.

Endothermic Dissolving

Starting Temperature
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e

Particles
Separating

Net Temperature
Change

Final Temperature
Particles
recombine
Time of dissolving

With that in mind, the opposite is true for

an endothermic reaction. It takes more
heat energy to separate the compounds
(why?) than they liberate into the
surrounding solution. Since the heat
energy is taken from the water, the net
temperature difference is a drop in
temperature. The solution becomes
colder.
See next slide.

How to Remember Them

Think of it this way. When there is a fire and
it gets hot, you EXO (exit) the building. Hot
= Exothermic
When you are cold outside you go ENDO
(into) the house. Cold = Endothermic
If you think these are bad, do better, and let
me know.

Altering Particle Contact

There are three ways main methods to
alter particle contact and therefore
alter the reaction rate. They are:
Surface Area
Temperature
Concentration
means change

Concentration
Concentration is calculated using the formula:
C= grams of solid
ml of liquid
The more concentrated a solution is, the
more likely there will be particle contact. As
concentration increases the reaction
rate is faster. A decrease in
concentration will slow the reaction
rate.

Concentration will increase the number of particle contacts

that occur. For a reaction to speed up, the number of quality
collisions must increase. This means that the particles must
hit at the proper speed as well as the proper angle.

Temperature
Temperature is defined as a measure
of the vibration or motion of atoms.
If atoms are moving quickly, they have a
lot of energy, and the temperature is
high. If the particles have low energy,
they are moving slowly, and therefore
have a lower temperature. If atoms are
moving quickly, more collisions are likely
to occur and those collisions will be high
energy collisions.

As the temperature increases, particles are

moving faster and are more likely to
collide with each other. This results in a
faster reaction rate.
As the temperature decreases, particle
motion slows and atoms are less likely to
collide. This means that even if a
collision occurs, there is not enough
energy for the reaction to occur. The
result is a slowing of the reaction rate.

Catalysts and Enzymes

Catalysts and enzymes are another way to
alter reaction rates. Enzymes are custom
made catalysts made from proteins by living
things. Catalysts are substances that speed
reactions but they are not custom made.

Catalysts
Catalysts are substances that, when used in
small amounts, speed up reaction rates. It
is not fully understood how catalysts work
but they do have certain things in common.
1. They are specific. They will not work
for all reactions.
2. They are used in small amounts.

3. Catalysts are not used up in a

chemical reaction. They are
unchanged.
Stated another way, catalysts are not
reactants. They exist in the products
as they did in the reactants.
4. Catalysts do not cause a reaction to
occur.
5. Catalysts are not affected by heat.

A possible theory as to how a catalyst might work is this.

Consider this photo to be representative of the surface of a
catalyst. As compounds move across its surface, they encounter
ridges holes and a very uneven surface. (continued next slide)

How a catalyst might work

In moving over this surface, the compounds
twist, turn, and eventually separate. Since
the surface is uneven, charges are uneven
as well. Reactants from other substances
adhere to the surface and are more likely to
combine. After they combine, they move
off of the surface of the catalyst due to a
new shape of the new compound that
forms.

Enzymes
Enzymes are similar to catalysts that are made
by living things. The greatest difference
between a catalyst and an enzyme is that
enzymes can be regulated whereas
catalysts cannot.
Enzymes have endings that end with ase.
Example: Salivary amylase.
Enzymes are also different from catalysts in that
they tend to be sensitive to heat.

Main Difference
One of the main differences between
catalysts and enzymes is that
enzymes can be regulated; catalysts
cannot. This means that living
things can literally turn an enzyme
on and off. This cannot be done with
a catalyst. Think of the shuttle as
an analogy. The solid boosters
would be catalysts. They cannot be
turned off. The engines would be
enzymes as they can be regulated.

Proof from lab

Your lab was intended to verify the collision
theory using three different chemical
systems.
I. HCl + Shell ----> fizz (carbon dioxide)
II. KMnO4 + H2C2O4 ----> golden color
III. KI + K2S2O8 + starch ----> black

Each of these systems measures the rates

of chemical reactions differently.
A. The shell + hydrochloric acid is used to
measure how much product (a gas) is
produced in a specific amount of time.
B. The potassium permanganate + oxalic
acid reaction is used to measure the time
that it takes to use up a reactant (KMnO4).
It goes from a purple color to a golden
yellow color.

The potassium persulfate + potassium

iodide reaction is used to measure the
time that it takes for a reaction to first
appear. The starch is used as an indicator
in this reaction.
This reaction is known as the Iodine Clock
reaction since it tends to be very precise
when the reaction occurs. When the
reaction takes place, it goes from
colorless reactants to a purple/black color.

Models
You should remember that one of the
properties of models is that they are based
upon a large number of observations. This
is why you are testing all three methods of
changing reaction rates with each chemical
system.

Conclusions
You should have learned that in each of the
systems that anything that was done to
increase particle contact also increased the
reaction rate.
The converse is also true. Anything done to
decrease particle contact, decreased the
reaction rate.

Speed of the Reactions

You also should have concluded with several
different systems that although you can
speed a chemical system, you can only
speed it up to a point.
NO CHEMICAL REACTION IS
INSTANTANEOUS.