Potential energy diagram catalyst effect

Figure 16-15 Potential energy diagrams showing the effect of a catalyst. The catalyst provides a different mechanism, corresponding to a lower-energy pathway, for the formation of the products. A catalyzed reaction typically occurs in several steps, each with its own barrier, but the overall energy barrier for the net reaction,, is lower than that for the uncatalyzed reaction, E. The value of depends only on the states of the reactants and products, so it is the same for either path.

Sketch a potential energy diagram for a reaction that shows the effect of a catalyst on an exothermic reaction. 

Figure 3.1 Generic potential energy diagram showing the effect of a catalyst in a hypothetical exothermic chemical reaction X + Y to give Z.

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