15. Chemical Kinetics
Collision Theory
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According to collision theory, a chemical reaction is successful when 2 energetic reactants successfully collide. And when we talk about successfully collide, we're gonna say that for successful collisions, reactant molecules must collide with enough energy, so they have to hit each other hard enough, and with proper orientation. So they have to hit each other in the right spots for them to stick together. Now what are the factors that are influencing our collisions? Well, the first factor is temperature. We're gonna say here if we can increase the temperature of our reaction, then this can help increase the number of energetic collisions. More energetic collisions, more success in possibly connecting together between reacting molecules. Now activation energy. If we can ensure that our chemical reaction has a low activation energy, then this will also increase our rate of reaction. Next, concentration of reactants. If you can increase the amount of reactant concentrations, means there are gonna be more reacting molecules floating around, which will increase their frequencies of collision. Increasing the frequencies of collisions mean that they bump into each other more often, and that increases the possibility of some of them sticking together. Now, 4, we're gonna talk about orientation. This is pretty self explanatory. Here we say molecules must collide with proper orientation, and if they do so that'll equal a successful collision. Now here, proper orientation is partially determined by the shape of molecules. So for them to connect in the right spots, the molecules themselves have to have ideal shapes with one another. Now the rate of reaction is influenced by molecular collisions. Here, we're going to say that if we can increase the number of overall collisions, then this can result in a faster rate of reaction. So now keep all of these factors in mind when we're talking about successful collisions, which in turn will lead to a faster rate of reaction.
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