Question

Give examples from our daily lives on each of the 4 factors that affect the rate of the reaction. (Concentration, Surface Area, Temperature, Catalysts)

Answer 1

Chemists use reactions to generate a desired product. For the most part, a reaction is only useful if it occurs at a reasonable rate. For example, a reaction that took 8,000 years to complete would not be a desirable way to produce brake fluid. However, a reaction that proceeded so quickly that it caused an explosion would also not be useful (unless the explosion was the desired result). For these reasons, chemists wish to be able to control reaction rates. In order to gain this control, we must first know what factors affect the rate of a reaction. We will discuss some of these factors in this section.