Reaction Rates
...what effect, if any, that this has on the rate of the reaction taking place. In order for a reaction to occur, the particles must collide with one another to release energy needed to start the reaction. This is known as “activation energy, [EA]”. The particles also have to collide hard enough to break any chemical bonds. The rate of reaction depends on how often and how hard the reacting particles collide, releasing energy. This is known as “The Collision Theory”. A number of different factors can affect the rate of reaction: temperature, concentration, surface area and pressure. When the temperature gets higher, the reacting particles gain more energy and so can react faster. Grinding solids into powder creates a larger surface area, exposing more of the solid for collisions, and so the reaction rate increases. This, however, is inapplica...