Question

How is the rate of a chemical reaction related to temperature?
It is slowed by higher temperatures
It is dependent upon the temperature

Answers

Answered by GPT-4o mini
The rate of a chemical reaction is dependent upon the temperature. In general, as the temperature increases, the rate of a chemical reaction also increases. This is primarily due to two factors:

1. **Increased kinetic energy**: Higher temperatures provide reactant molecules with more kinetic energy, resulting in faster movement. This increases the frequency of collisions between reactant molecules, which can lead to more successful reactions.

2. **Higher collision energy**: Not only do molecules collide more frequently at higher temperatures, but the energy of these collisions is also greater. When molecules collide with enough energy (greater than the activation energy), a reaction can occur.

Therefore, higher temperatures typically accelerate reaction rates, while lower temperatures tend to slow them down.

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