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Catalyst, a substance that alters the rate (usually speeding up) of a chemical reaction without itself being used up or permanently changed.
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Catalyst, a substance that alters the rate (usually speeding up) of a chemical reaction without itself being used up or permanently changed. Catalysts increase the rate of a reaction by providing an alternative route for the reaction that has a lower activation energy than that of the uncatalysed reaction. Because the activation energy along the catalysed route is smaller, a greater proportion of the colliding molecules have the minimum energy needed to react, and so the rate of product formation is increased. HOMOGENEOUS CATALYSTS A catalyst in a solution with or in the same phase as the reactants is called a homogeneous catalyst. The catalyst combines with one of the reactants to form an intermediate compound that reacts more readily with the other reactant. The catalyst, however, does not influence the equilibrium of the reaction, because the decomposition of the products into the reactants is speeded up to a similar...
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