Question

Name the two barriers to a chemical reaction to occur.

Answer 1

Chemical reaction:

1. A chemical reaction occurs when the bonds between reactant molecules are broken and new bonds are established between product molecules, resulting in the formation of a new product.
2. According to Collision Theory, particles must collide for a chemical reaction to occur. They must collide with sufficient energy to be successful.
3. Also, for a successful collision, particles must clash in the correct position. The colliding molecules must also be positioned correctly to break existing bonds and form new ones.
4. Activation energies, or energy barriers, exist in chemical reactions.
5. It is described as the minimal amount of energy required to activate molecules or atoms in order for them to carry out a chemical reaction or transformation, or to alter a reactive molecule into a product.
6. As the activation energy for a reaction increases, the rate at which a molecule undergoes that reaction falls.
7. Effective collisions are the collisions that produce the products and result in chemical reactions.
8. To make effective collisions, the reacting species must have enough energy to disrupt the chemical bonds in the reacting molecules.
9. The threshold energy is the minimal amount of energy that colliding molecules must-have. This indicates that only reactant collisions with energies larger than the threshold energy will produce products.

Therefore, the Activation energy and Orientation barrier are two chemical barriers.