some reactions that are considered to be spontaneous at low temperatures will not proceed at a measurable rate or form any measurable quantity of products for several hours, days, or years.

Question

a. explain why this is.
b. will the addition of a catalyst alter the value of delta "G" for the reaction? explain.

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i'm not sure for an answer for A, but i think b will be a yes because a catalyst lowers activation energy and will take less time for a reaction to occur. help plz?

thanks!

Answer 1

Check the previous post at:

http://www.jiskha.com/display.cgi?id=1260062043

Answer 2

a. The question is bogus. What is the criteria some are "considering" spontaneous? Some list if deltaG is -, it is spontaneous. Maybe, and maybe not. Large - yes, but say -1.2 j/kg That is pretty close to zero. Reactions near zero, on the border of +-, are usually very slow, if they occur at all.

b. catalys lowers activation energy. your added statement does not have anything to do with deltaG