Objection:
An attempt to quantify the dependence of reaction rates on temperature. Investigators Hecht and Conrad in 1889 collected data of reaction rates of ethoxide and methyl iodide.
Arrhenius examined the data and found out that it could be represented adequately by an expression called Arrhenius equation:
Our purpose is to present this data in a graphical form and calculate the activation energy.
Introduction/ Analysis
The Current understanding of how a chemical reaction takes place is based on a
collision model. In this view, Kinetic energy of the atoms and molecules in a reacting
system is transformed into an increase in potential energy of reactant molecules
which makes the reaction takes place. Molecules must collide with certain
minimum amount of energy necessary to break bonds and force the molecule through
unstable intermediate states to go to product. This minimum amount of energy that
must be overcome is called the activation energy.
Another factor affects rate of reaction is the concentration of reactants. The greater
the concentration of the reactants, the greater the collisions per second. In line with
this expectation, the rate of a chemical reaction exhibits a dependence on the
Concentrations of reactants rose to a small integral power equal to the number of
moles of the reactants.
The rate of chemical reactions also increases with temperature. This is a phenomenon seen in warm weather; Frozen food can be preserved for a long time but will spoil at room temperature. A rule of thumb used by chemist to estimate the rate of reaction is that the rate approximately doubles for every 10 degree Celsius rise in temperature. This would suggest that the relationship between the reaction rate and temperature is exponential.