How does a catalyst work?

Question

anonymous · Answer

a catalyst lowers the activation energy which simply means that it decreases the amount of energy a process need to work

anonymous · Answer

so basically what he/she said was is catalysts increase the rate of reactions by decreasing the activation energy, which means it reduces the minimum input of energy to break the bonds of the reactants.

activation energy- minimum energy needed to break the bonds of the reactants so it could form new bonds to create products

abb0t · Answer

Actually, that is a common misconception this isn't properly taught correclty in high school. It doesn't actually "lower" the activation energy, rather it allows the molecule to find another pathway that is faster and allows it to expends less energy. The rate of reaction is increased due to this new pathway it has found for it because the activation  barrier is now lower - meaning, less energy is required to start the reaction and allow it to "jump" the energy hump that you may be familiar with.

anonymous · Answer

ohhhhh ok  i see so basically it creates another route?

abb0t · Answer

It doesn't necessarily create a new route, rather it finds a new one. So, if it was to go 

A + B $\rightarrow$ C$\rightarrow$ D $\rightarrow$ product

It may find a way to get to product by simply going past C and going straight to D and then product.