Explaining Rates (Edexcel IGCSE Chemistry)

• Increasing the number of successful collisions means that a greater proportion of reactant particles collide to form product molecules.
• We have seen previously that the following factors influence the rate of reaction
  • Increasing concentration
  • Increasing temperature
  • Increase the surface area of a solid reactant
  • Use of a catalyst

• We can use collision theory to explain why these factors influence the reaction rate:

Concentration of a Solution

The diagram shows a higher concentration of particles in (b) which means that there are more particles present in the same volume than (a) so the number of collisions between reacting particles is increased causing an increased rate of reaction

Explanation:

• Increasing the concentration of a solution will increase the rate of reaction 
• This is because there will be more reactant particles in a given volume, allowing more frequent and successful collisions per second
• If you double the number of particles you will double the number of collisions per second
• The number of collisions is proportional to the number of particles present

Temperature

An increase in temperature causes an increase in the kinetic energy of the particles. The number of successful collisions increases 

Explanation:

• Increase in the temperature, the rate of reaction will increase
• This is because the particles will have more kinetic energy than the required activation energy, therefore there will be more frequent and successful collisions per second, increasing the rate of reaction
• The effect of temperature on collisions is not so straight forward as concentration or surface area; a small increase in temperature causes a large increase in rate
• For aqueous and gaseous systems, a rough rule of thumb is that for every 10 degree (Kelvin) increase in temperature the rate of reaction approximately doubles

Surface area of a solid

An increase in surface area means more collisions per second

Explanation:

• With an increase in the surface area of a solid reactant, the rate of reaction will increase
• This is because more surface area of the particles will be exposed to the other reactant, producing a higher number of collisions per second
• If you double the surface area you will double the number of collisions per second