Question by Amir: How come catalysts decrease the activation energy in a chemical reaction?
How come catalysts decrease the activation energy in a chemical reaction? How does it work?
Best answer:
Answer by Conrad
They actually don’t ‚decrease the activation energy’, only provide an alternative route that requires less activation energy.
But to answer your question…
Catalysts permit an alternate mechanism for the reactants to become products, with a lower activation energy and different transition state. A catalyst may allow a reaction to proceed at a lower temperature or increase the reaction rate or selectivity. Catalysts often react with reactants to form intermediates that eventually yield the same reaction products and regenerate the catalyst. Note that the catalyst may be consumed during one of the intermediate steps, but it will be created again before the reaction is completed.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
