6.1.8 Catalysts

Role of Catalysts:

Catalysts are used to speed up chemical reactions. They achieve this by providing an alternative reaction pathway with a lower activation energy compared to the reaction without a catalyst.

• Activation Energy: The minimum energy that reacting particles must have for a reaction to occur.
• By lowering the activation energy, catalysts increase the number of particles that have enough energy to successfully react when they collide. This results in a higher frequency of successful collisions and, consequently, a faster reaction rate.

Applications of Catalysts:

• Industrial Use: Catalysts are widely employed in the chemical industry to accelerate reactions that would otherwise proceed too slowly to be practical for manufacturing processes.
• Biological Catalysts: In nature, enzymes act as biological catalysts, facilitating vital biochemical reactions in living organisms. Enzymes play a crucial role in processes such as digestion, respiration, and DNA replication.