A student is studying the rate of the following reaction: C2H4O NaOH --> H20 NaC2H3O Knowing that this is an exothermic react
ion, he is measuring the rate of the reaction by timing how quickly the reaction vessel heats up. He notices that if he adds HCl to this reaction, the rate increases dramatically. He also determines that the HCl is being used up during the reaction. Is the HCl a catalyst for this reaction.
HCl is not a catalyst because these are not used up during the chemical reactions.
Explanation:
Hello there!
In this case, according to the performed experiments, it is possible for us to realize that HCl cannot be a catalyst for this reaction because it is used up during the reaction. This is explained by the fact that catalyst are able to return to the original form once the reaction has gone to completion; this is the example of palladium in the hydrogenation or dehydrogenation of hydrocarbons depending on the case. Moreover, we know that the catalysts increase the reaction rate because they decrease the activation energy of the reaction and therefore the student observed such increase.
