CHM 103 Lecture Notes - Lecture 25: Spontaneous Process, Covalent Bond, Equilibrium Constant
Document Summary
Activation energy is a small amount of outside energy needed to start a spontaneous process. In some reaction mixtures, the average total energy of the molecules is too low at prevailing temperatures for a reaction to take place at a detectable rate. Orientation effects are related to which side or end of a reacting particle actually contacts another particle during a collision. Orientation effects become important when reacting particles are not spherical as in this reaction: a -b + c - d a - c + b - d. To make a reaction go fast, one can increase heat (number of collisions) and increase the concentration of reactants. Energy relationships for reactions can be shown graphically by energy diagrams in which the energy of a reaction is graphed on a vertical axis vs. progress of reaction on a horizontal axis. The energy of products is less than the energy of reactants.
