What will affect the rate of a solution

This energy varies for each reaction, and is known as the activation energy E a Figure The rate of reaction therefore depends on the activation energy; a higher activation energy means that fewer molecules will have sufficient energy to undergo an effective collision.

Key is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4. The reaction rate of a heterogeneous reaction depends on the surface area of the more condensed phase. Automobile engines use surface area effects to increase reaction rates. Gasoline is injected into each cylinder, where it combusts on ignition by a spark from the spark plug. The gasoline is injected in the form of microscopic droplets because in that form it has a much larger surface area and can burn much more rapidly than if it were fed into the cylinder as a stream.

Similarly, a pile of finely divided flour burns slowly or not at all , but spraying finely divided flour into a flame produces a vigorous reaction Figure Similar phenomena are partially responsible for dust explosions that occasionally destroy grain elevators or coal mines.

Peter Wolthers has a series of videos demonstrating combustion reactions that you can watch. The nature of the solvent can also affect the reaction rates of solute particles. For example, a sodium acetate solution reacts with methyl iodide in an exchange reaction to give methyl acetate and sodium iodide.

Although both are organic solvents with similar dielectric constants Hydrogen bonding reduces the reactivity of the oxygen atoms in the acetate ion.

Solvent viscosity is also important in determining reaction rates. In highly viscous solvents, dissolved particles diffuse much more slowly than in less viscous solvents and can collide less frequently per unit time. Thus the reaction rates of most reactions decrease rapidly with increasing solvent viscosity. You learned in Chapter Consider, for example, the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide in the presence and absence of different catalysts Figure Because most catalysts are highly selective, they often determine the product of a reaction by accelerating only one of several possible reactions that could occur.

You can store a bottle in your medicine cabinet for a long time without it decomposing. Iodide ion acts as a catalyst for the decomposition of H 2 O 2 , producing oxygen gas. The enzyme catalase which is found in liver and potatoes is about 3 billion times more effective than iodide as a catalyst on a per molecule basis.

Even in the presence of very small amounts of enzyme, the decomposition is vigorous. Mixing reactants increases their ability to interact, thus increasing the rate of a chemical reaction. The chart below is a summary of the main factors that influence the reaction rate. There is typically a maximum effect, after which changing a factor will have no effect or will slow a reaction. For example, increasing temperature past a certain point may denature reactants or cause them to undergo a completely different chemical reaction.

Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. And if we were to increase the temperature, so let's say we heated this flask on the left.

So we increase the temperature. We would observe the glow to get stronger. So let's go ahead and draw in here, a more vibrant glow coming from our glow stick. So increasing the temperature must have increased the rate of the reaction. The reason increasing the temperature increases the rate of the reaction in general, is because increase in temperature means the molecules are moving faster. And therefore the molecules are colliding with each other with greater frequency and with greater force which increases the rate of the reaction.

The catalyst is another factor that can affect the rate of a reaction. Let's look at the balanced equation for the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide, which turns into water and oxygen. And let's say in our flask on the left, we have a solution of hydrogen peroxide. The hydrogen peroxide is decomposing at room temperature, but the reaction proceeds so slowly that we don't see it even happening. We can speed up the reaction by adding a catalyst. Let's say we have an aqueous solution of potassium iodide in our beaker here.

And we pour the solution of potassium iodide into our flask containing the hydrogen peroxide. The addition of the iodide ion as a catalyst, causes the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide to occur very quickly.