How do catalysts function?

A. They protect the products from external reactions.
B. They increase the activation energy of an elementary step of a reaction.
C. They lower the activation energy of an elementary step of a reaction.
D. They react with the solvent and increase its reactivity.

Question

How do catalysts function?

 		A.	They protect the products from external reactions.
 		B.	They increase the activation energy of an elementary step of a reaction.
 		C.	They lower the activation energy of an elementary step of a reaction.
 		D.	They react with the solvent and increase its reactivity.

sweetburger · Answer

Well catalyst work by lowering the activation energy of the reaction which correlates with usually the lowering the Ea of one of the elementary step and the effects are seen when the Ea is lowered on the slow step. So C.

vera_ewing · Answer

Thank you.