lower activation energy
What lower activation energy means in Chemistry A-Level, as defined for AQA, OCR.
Definitions of lower activation energy
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Reference: OCR
The alternative pathway has a lower activation energy, so a greater proportion of collisions between particles have at least the activation energy.
Catalysis provides an alternative route with a lower activation energy, so a far larger fraction of collisions has enough energy to react.
The catalysed route has a smaller energy barrier than the uncatalysed route, so more colliding particles have enough energy to react.
The different route provided by a catalyst has a lower activation energy than the uncatalysed route.
Topics that use lower activation energy
- Catalysts (AQA A-Level)
- Enzymes (A-level only) (AQA A-Level)
- Reaction rates (OCR A-Level)
Related terms
- Activation energy
- active site
- adsorption on active sites
- Alternative reaction pathway
- area beyond Eₐ
- autocatalysis
- Boltzmann distribution
- Catalysis and activation energy
Using lower activation energy in the exam
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