Question

What are the two common ways of overcoming Activation Energy?

Answer 1

Activation Energy - The minimum amount of energy required to activate atoms or molecules to undergo a chemical reaction is called Activation Energy. It is denoted by ${\mathrm{E}}_{\mathrm{a}}$.

The two ways of overcoming activation energy are

1. By increasing the number of enzymes - The catalyst and enzymes usually lower the activation energy and thus, increase the rate of the reaction.
2. By increasing the heat - By increasing the temperature, the rate of reaction proceeds faster and therefore collides very frequently and thus, lowering the activation energy.

Catalysts - Those substances that participate in the chemical reaction and alter (increase or decrease the speed of the reaction without changing any composition in itself or form of any product are called Catalysts. For example,

1. ${\mathrm{MnO}}_2$ acts as a catalyst durning the decomposition of ${\mathrm{KClO}}_3$ to give $\mathrm{KCl}\mathrm{and}{\mathrm{O}}_2$.
2. Also in the decomposition of${\mathrm{H}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_2$, Platinum acts as a catalyst.