Question

for a given chemical reaction the addition of a catalyst provides a different reaction pathway that

a)decreases the reaction rate and has a higher activation energy
b)decreases the reaction rate and has a lower activation energy
c)increases the reaction rate and has a higher activation energy
d)increases the reaction rate and has a lower activation energy.

Answer 1

in a biological reaction an enzyme acts as a catalyst,causing the
a)activation energy of the reaction to decrease
b)potential energy of the reactants to decrease
c)kinetic energy of the reactants to increase
d)heat of reaction to increase.

Answer 2

For the first one, it is C or D... I can't remember about the activation energy.

Answer 3

A catalyst is something that causes change. You're more likely to clean your room if it has less clothes on the floor than more because it takes less "Energy of activation" to just clean up a couple of socks than a million legos. If we say that a catalyst is a candybar, eating it gives you more energy, thereby Lowering the Energy of activation it takes to clean your room since you've lowered the energy it takes to do it. Although in chemistry you usually don't "use up" your catalyst after using it, instead it can be used over and over again.

Answer 4

d)increases the reaction rate and has a lower activation energy.
a)activation energy of the reaction to decrease

Answer 5

thanks for the explanationn both of you guys :)

Answer 6

I did no explanation =P

Answer 7

sigh got 100 questions to do again for this stupid break :l but thanks

Answer 8

What's literally happening in biology is usually your catalyst is an enzyme that has a special place on it that fits one particular molecule. Normally it takes a lot of energy to rip apart a bond, but an enzyme can grab onto the molecule and upon hitting the activation site, the enzyme twists a little bit and rips the molecule apart. This lowers the reaction energy to reasonable temperatures while also increasing the rate at which they occur.

Without enzymes to catalyze reactions our bodies wouldn't be able to create the proteins and digest the things we need. We'd be hundreds of degrees hotter and not be very solid just so we could break a few bonds.

Answer 9

hey if i have more questions please help me out! <3

Answer 10

^ great connection to biology. However, about your second paragraph, I wouldn't say "We'd be hundreds of degrees hotter and not be very solid just so we could break a few bonds." We simply wouldn't even be able to survive with out catalysts, at any temperature. They speed up biological reactions by millions of times.

Answer 11

Yeah, exactly. We wouldn't be very solid since we'd be at the temperature to break the bonds that we need to be bonded. It'd be completely contradictory and no fun.

Answer 12

I do not get Kainui's first analogy with socks, legos and candibar!
I would rather say that if you have to go from a building to the next going all the way up to the top floor and terrace, the come down again, which you might not achieve for lack of energy, then the catalyst is the key that allows you to go up only one floor and open a communication door, enabling you to make it with much less energy to start with.
After you've opened the door, the key is still there, and can be reused again and again: the catalyst is not used up in the overall reaction.