Reaction Rates, Energy Barriers, Catalysis, and Equilibrium

4 REACTION RATES, ENERGY BARRIERS, CATALYSIS, AND EQUILIBRIUM 

FIGURE 12.2 Intuitive picture of the energy relations for an exothermic chemical reaction. 

In practice, catalysts can influence the position of metastable equilibrium, which is often what we seek industrially. Carbon monoxide and hydrogen can react in many ways for example, 

In principle, there is no such thing as a negative catalyst, one that prevents a reaction. In practice, there are materials that act as if they were negative catalysts. The selective 

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