Chapter 7

Summary
You should know that: chemical reactions involve changes in energy most reactions release energy to their surroundings and this is usually in the form of heat these are exothermic reactions some reactions take in energy from the surroundings these are endothermic reactions. chemical reactions can occur at vastly different rates, from the explosively rapid to those taking place over a timescale of years the rate of a particular reaction can be changed by altering several factors concerning the reactants, including the surface area of any solids present the concentration of any solutions involved the temperature at which the reaction is carried out some reactions can be speeded up by the presence of a catalyst catalysts increase the rate of a reaction but remain chemically unchanged at the end of the reaction transition elements or their compounds are particularly useful as catalysts catalysts are important for a wide range of industrial processes enzymes are biological catalysts these enzyme proteins are highly specic and sensitive to conditions of temperature and pH certain reactions can be reversed if the conditions are changed the dehydration of hydrated salts, for example some of these reactions can be vital to life, for example the transport of oxygen by haemoglobin chemical bonds must rst be broken during a reaction so that new, different, bonds can be formed the breaking of bonds is an endothermic process requiring energy, while the making of bonds is an exothermic process with energy being released the heat change taking place during a reaction can be measured using a simple calorimeter very few reactions are spontaneous, and even strongly exothermic reactions require an initial input of energy to start them the energy barrier that must be overcome at the start of a reaction is known as the activation energy of a particular reaction the activation energy is needed because bonds must rst be broken before new attachments can be made the energy released by the forming of new bonds causes the reaction to continue. the factors controlling the rate of a reaction can be explained on the basis of collision theory changes that increase the frequency of collision between reactant particles (for example an increase in temperature) will increase the rate of a reaction not all collisions produce reactions the colliding particles must possess a certain minimum energy to react this minimum energy is the activation energy of the reaction certain reactions respond to light energy these reactions are known as photochemical reactions. reversible reactions in a closed system reach a position of dynamic equilibrium at equilibrium, the rate of the reverse reaction equals that of the forward reaction at equilibrium, the overall concentrations of the reactants and products do not change the position of an equilibrium can be altered by changing the temperature of the system for reversible reactions involving gases, the position of equilibrium can be altered by changing the pressure several important industrial reactions, for example the Haber process, are based on reversible reactions the conditions used industrially for these reactions are optimised to produce enough product at an economic rate a catalyst is often involved in these processes, but its presence does not alter the equilibrium position solutions of weak acids, for example ethanoic acid, which are only partially dissociated into ions, are also examples of dynamic equilibria.

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Cambridge University Press IGCSE Chemistry

Summary: Chapter 7