Physical Chemistry

A student says that using a catalyst lowers the energy of the reactants in a chemical reaction. Evaluate this statement. Use ideas from reaction profile diagrams in your answer.

State one reason why catalysts are important in industrial chemical processes.

Describe how you could show that a new powder is a catalyst for the decomposition of a solution. Include the key observations needed to confirm it is a catalyst.

The contact process for making sulfuric acid uses vanadium(V) oxide as a catalyst. In one experiment, 100 cm³ of sulfur dioxide and excess oxygen were reacted at 450°C and 2 atm, both with and without the catalyst. With the catalyst, the reaction reached equilibrium in 2 minutes. Without the catalyst, it took 10 minutes.

State how a catalyst affects the activation energy of a reaction.

In an experiment, two reactions are compared: one with a catalyst and one without. The time for the reaction without a catalyst is 30 minutes. With a catalyst, the same reaction takes 10 minutes. If a student wants to show the substance is a catalyst, what further step should she take besides measuring the rates? Explain your answer.

Draw a reaction profile diagram for a reaction. Your diagram should show both the activation energy for the uncatalysed and catalysed reaction paths. Clearly label the energy of reactants, energy of products, activation energy for both paths, and the effect of the catalyst.

State two reasons why catalysts are important in industrial chemical reactions.