http://www.ck12.org Chapter 3. Chemical Interactions
3.27 Chemical Reaction Rate
- Define chemical reaction rate.
- Identify factors that influence the rate of chemical reactions.
Sodium reacts violently with water. That’s what is happening in the picture above. Why does sodium have such
explosive reactions? It’s because the reactions occur so quickly.
How Fast Does It Go?
How fast a chemical reaction occurs is called thereaction rate. Several factors affect the rate of a given chemical
reaction. They include the:
- temperature of reactants.
- concentration of reactants.
- surface area of reactants.
- presence of a catalyst.
At the following URL, you can see animations showing how these factors affect the rate of chemical reactions.
http://www.kentchemistry.com/links/Kinetics/FactorsAffecting.htm
Temperature of Reactants
When the temperature of reactants is higher, the rate of the reaction is faster. At higher temperatures, particles of
reactants have more energy, so they move faster. As a result, they are more likely to bump into one another and to