7.

Factors that Affect Rates of Reaction

Have you noticed that some reactions occur quickly, while others
occur slowly? A match burns almost immediately, but the epoxy
glue used to repair a toy may take a day to completely harden
(Figure 1). What factors affect the rate of reaction, and how can we
explain these effects?
There are four factors that affect the rate of reaction. You have
seen the effects of temperature and concentration on the rate of
reaction in Investigations 7.1 and 7.2. Other factors that affect
rates of reaction are surface area and the presence of catalysts.
How do these factors affect the rate of reaction?

Changing the Rate of a Reaction

Imagine that you are on a canoe camping trip and have just
finished a long day. You want to build a campfire to cook your
meal and to provide warmth (Figure 2). What materials will you
choose to burn? Why? How will you arrange those materials? How
Figure 1
will you work with the fire to make it burn more quickly? How
The two ingredients in epoxy glue combine and harden
will you put the fire out before you go into your tent to sleep?
in a chemical reaction that occurs at a definite rate.
You must first decide how to set up the fire pit and what to
burn. Rocks can be used to surround and contain the fire because
they do not burn. All wood is flammable, but some kinds of wood burn
faster than others. You will need to find dry wood because you need a high
temperature to get the fire burning; wet wood uses much of this heat to
evaporate the water. If you start your fire with paper or small pieces of
wood, you can gradually add larger pieces as the fire gets going. To
make your fire burn more quickly, you can blow on it or fan it. In
building this fire, what factors are you changing to control the
reaction? Before we answer this question, let’s review a model that
might help our understanding of why reactions occur.

The Kinetic Molecular Theory:

A Collision Model
In previous grades, you used the particle theory of matter to
explain changes of state. For example, as a solid is heated, the Figure 2
molecules move more quickly until they break apart from one A number of factors control how fast a campfire burns.
another to form the liquid state. The kinetic molecular theory
states that particles are constantly moving and that they move more
D i d Yo u K n o w ?
quickly at higher temperatures. Can the particle theory and the kinetic
molecular theory also be used to explain how various factors affect the rate When you blow air on a fire, you
of a reaction? are exhaling oxygen. The process
As particles, or molecules, move about, they hit or collide with each of respiration produces carbon
dioxide gas, but we also breathe
other. If the molecules are moving slowly or if they are very stable, the
out a considerable fraction of the
colliding molecules just bounce off one another, and no reaction occurs. oxygen that we breathe in.
But if the molecules move more quickly and hit harder, there is a chance

260 Chapter 7
that the molecules may come apart and the atoms may combine to form
new molecules. Most collisions just result in the molecules bouncing off
one another, with no change. But a small fraction of collisions are
effective: they cause chemical bonds to break and re-form to make new
molecules (Figure 3).
The collision model states that the rate of reaction is affected by the
number of collisions of reactant molecules. Molecules in a gas or a liquid are
constantly colliding with each other. If all the collisions
between molecules were effective, then reactions HI
would occur instantaneously.
According to the collision model, there
are two ways to make a reaction go
faster:
• increase the number of collisions;
• increase the fraction of collisions
that are effective. H2
We can use the collision model to I2 HI
help us understand how temperature,
before collision effective
concentration, surface area, and
collision collision
catalysts affect the rate of a reaction.
Figure 3
Temperature Effective collisions between molecules can cause the formation of new molecules.

How does temperature affect the rate at

which a reaction occurs? You know that sugar dissolves faster in hot water
than in cold. Broiled burgers and French fries at your local hamburger
restaurant are products of chemical reactions that occur faster at higher
temperatures. Most reactions occur faster at higher temperatures.
Of course, temperature can also be used to slow reactions down. The
refrigerator and freezer at home are used to reduce
the rate of natural decay reactions that occur in
foods. At low temperatures, “cold-blooded” animals
become less active (Figure 4).
Temperature is the most important factor in
making a reaction go faster. An increase in
temperature of only 5°C or 10°C is enough to
double the rate of many reactions. Why does this
happen? As the temperature increases, the average
speed of the molecules increases. As the molecules
move faster around the container, they encounter
and collide with more molecules. Although there are
still some molecules that move slowly, there is a
larger fraction of “quick” molecules. These
molecules may hit each other hard enough for
chemical bonds to break and new molecules to
form. An increase in temperature makes the
molecules collide more often and more effectively.
Figure 4
No wonder it has such a dramatic effect on the rate
The temperature of a cold-blooded animal depends on the temperature of
of a reaction! its surroundings. As its environment cools, this toad’s body temperature
drops, the reactions taking place in its body slow down, and the animal
becomes sluggish.

Controlling Chemical Reactions 261

Concentration
What happens to the rate of a reaction when the concentrations of the
reactants increase? Concentrated hydrochloric acid reacts vigorously with
metals (Figure 5) and other substances, but the same molecule is in your
stomach right now! The hydrochloric acid that digests your food is much
less concentrated because it is dissolved in water. As you learned in
Investigation 7.2, increasing the concentration of a reactant increases the
rate of the reaction.
How can we use the collision model to explain the increase in the rate
of reaction as the concentration of reactants increases? When more
molecules are packed into a smaller space, they are more likely to collide
with each other. As an analogy, imagine that you are measuring the number
of times that you meet your friends by chance in the hallway during a
typical school day. If you increase the number of friends you have at school,
you will likely encounter more friends during the day. If you and your
friends were to move to a much smaller school, you would also be more
likely to meet more friends in a given day. Increasing the concentration of Figure 5

the reactants in a container increases the number of collisions between the Concentrated acids are very corrosive and
must be treated with care.
molecules.

Surface Area
The rate of a reaction is affected by surface area. Surface area is the
amount of area of a sample of matter that is visible and able to react. For
example, the surface area of a whole orange is the outer peel; more
surface area is exposed if we cut the orange in half.
When reactants are present in different phases — for example, a
solid and a gas — the area of contact, or surface area, determines the
rate of reaction. The surface area can be increased by decreasing the
sizes of the pieces of the reactant. For example, a pile of flour
does not react quickly with oxygen from the air, even when a
flame is directed onto it. But when a cloud of flour particles is
puffed through a flame (Figure 6), the reaction happens much
more quickly as the flour and oxygen combine. Such dust
explosions have destroyed grain elevators and caused fatal
accidents (Figure 7).

Figure 6
Increasing the surface area of a solid increases the rate of reaction.
Figure 7
Grain elevators are used to store wheat and other grains.
Care must be taken not to have open flames where dust
particles might be suspended in the air and able to react
with oxygen.

262 Chapter 7
 How can we use the collision model to explain
the increase in rate of reaction as the surface area of DESCRIBING THE RATE OF REACTION
the reactants increases? Reactions occur more quickly QUANTITATIVELY
as the number of collisions between molecules
increases. A reaction between a solid and a liquid or How can we calculate the rate of reaction?
gas can occur only where the solid particles are in The rate of reaction may be described by a
contact with the other phase. Increasing the number simple equation:
of solid particles that are available to react allows quantity of product produced
more molecules of the second phase to collide with rate of reaction =
them. Increasing the surface area increases the time required
number of collisions between molecules and Thus, a process has a greater rate of reaction if
therefore the rate of reaction. more product is produced in a given time. For
example, imagine a car factory. Suppose that
Catalysts the workers produce 20 cars in a day. Thus,
What happens to the rate of a reaction when a 20 cars
catalyst is used? A catalyst is a substance that rate of reaction = = 20 cars/day
increases the rate of a chemical reaction without 1 day
being consumed by the reaction. Thus, a catalyst is If the workers produce more cars in the same
not a reactant. Catalysts are used in many industrial time (for example, 30 cars in a day) then the
processes, including oil refining (Figure 8). As you rate of reaction increases.
may know, catalysts are also very important in
30 cars
controlling reactions in biological systems. rate of reaction = = 30 cars/day
To understand how a catalyst works, think of a 1 day
chemical reaction as being similar to a car trip into
The rate of reaction may also be higher if the
the mountains. Imagine that you are travelling from
same number of cars is produced in a shorter
time (for example, 20 cars in half a day).
20 cars
rate of reaction = = 40 cars/day
0.5 day

Challenge
1 You have now learned how various factors affect the
rates of reactions. During the manufacturing process of
your product, can you determine what, if any, factors are
used to increase the rate of reactions?

Work the Web

Visit the Nelson web site at www.science.nelson.com.
Follow the Science 10, 7.3 links to web sites that show
reactions that occur at different rates.

Figure 8
A catalytic cracking unit at an oil refinery. Catalysts
are used to crack hydrocarbons into smaller fragments
that can be re-formed into components of gasoline.

Controlling Chemical Reactions 263

Alphaville to Betaville (Figure 9). To get to Betaville, you could travel
over a mountain through Gammaville. But if you take the road
through Deltaville (representing a
catalyst), you still arrive at the same place
Gammaville
and you have an easier trip.
A catalyst provides an easier way for a
chemical reaction to occur. It does this by
decreasing the amount of collision energy
Betaville
that molecules need to break bonds and
form new molecules. Instead of one Deltaville
molecule in a thousand being able to Alphaville
react, perhaps one molecule in ten can
react. A catalyst increases the fraction of
collisions that are effective. You will learn
more about catalysts later in this chapter.

Figure 9
A catalyst provides an easier path for a reaction to follow.

Understanding Concepts Making Connections

1. Make a chart to summarize the four factors that affect the
rate of reaction. For each factor,
(a) describe how it affects rate;
(b) give an example; and
(c) draw a sketch to show, on a molecular level, how it
makes a reaction go faster.
2. Explain how you would use your knowledge of factors that
affect the rate of reaction to cook a steak as quickly as
possible.
3. Consider a reaction in Container A in which 1000 collisions
occur per second, and 100 of these collisions are effective
— that is, they break chemical bonds to make a product.
(a) What fraction of the collisions are effective?
(b) Consider Container B, in which more reactants are
packed into the same space, so that 3000 collisions
occur per second. How many effective collisions will
now occur per second?
(c) Suppose a catalyst is added to Container A so that
twice the fraction of collisions are effective. How many
effective collisions will now occur per second?
4. What effect on the rate of reaction of a metal with 20 mL of
dilute acid at room temperature would you expect if
(a) the acid was cooled to 10°C?
(b) 2 mL of concentrated acid was added?
(c) the metal was ground into powder before addition to
the acid?
5. Imagine that a factory is assembling cars. An efficiency
expert is hired to try to analyze factors that affect how
quickly cars are being assembled. On Monday, she divides
the jobs so that different groups are working on different
parts of the car at the same time. On Tuesday, she turns
down the temperature in the factory. On Wednesday, she
finds a worker who has invented a new-and-improved way
to bolt together the vehicle’s parts. On Thursday, she hires
more workers to work in the factory.
(a) Which “rate factor” is being investigated each day?
(b) What effect do you think would be observed each day
on the rate of production of the cars?
(c) Which factor do you think would be most effective?
(d) How is this analogy not quite the same as the rate of
reaction in a chemical system?
6. Look back at Investigation 6.9. What substance was used
as a catalyst in that activity?
7. Why do photographers and technicians often store film and
batteries in the refrigerator?
8. When you chew crackers, it is possible that three factors
affect the rate of breakdown of carbohydrates. Explain.
9. Would ground meat or a steak spoil more quickly? Explain,
using the collision model.
10. Which factors that affect the rate of reaction are involved
in making a campfire? Explain.

264 Chapter 7