How is catalyst used in a reaction

A catalyst provides an alternative reaction pathway that has a lower activation energy than the uncatalysed reaction. This does not change the frequency of collisions. However, it does increase the frequency of successful collisions because a greater proportion of collisions now exceeds this lower activation energy. The effect of a catalyst on the activation energy is shown on a chart called a reaction profile. This shows how the energy of the reactants and products change during a reaction.

An enzyme is a biological catalyst. Enzymes are important for controlling reactions in cells. They are also important in industry. The use of enzymes allows some industrial reactions to happen at lower temperatures and pressures than traditionally needed. With a helping hand from a catalyst, molecules that might take years to interact can now do so in seconds. Factories rely on catalysts to make everything from plastic to drugs.

Catalysts help process petroleum and coal into liquid fuels. Natural catalysts in the body — known as enzymes — even play important roles in digestion and more.

During any chemical reaction, molecules break chemical bonds between their atoms. The atoms also make new bonds with different atoms. This is like swapping partners at a square dance. Sometimes, those partnerships are easy to break. A molecule may have certain properties that let it lure away atoms from another molecule.

But in stable partnerships, the molecules are content as they are. Left together for a very long period of time, a few might eventually switch partners. Catalysts make such a breaking and rebuilding happen more efficiently. They do this by lowering the activation energy for the chemical reaction.

Activation energy is the amount of energy needed to allow the chemical reaction to occur. The catalyst just changes the path to the new chemical partnership. They turn milk into yogurt and petroleum into plastic milk jugs, CDs and bicycle helmets. Catalysts speed up a chemical reaction by lowering the amount of energy you need to get one going.

Catalysis is the backbone of many industrial processes, which use chemical reactions to turn raw materials into useful products. Catalysts are integral in making plastics and many other manufactured items. Even the human body runs on catalysts. Many proteins in your body are actually catalysts called enzymes, which do everything from creating signals that move your limbs to helping digest your food.

They are truly a fundamental part of life. In most cases, you need just a tiny amount of a catalyst to make a difference. Even the size of the catalyst particle can change the way a reaction runs. The catalyst turns propylene into propylene oxides, which is the first step in making antifreeze and other products. Industrial manufacturing processes for plastic and other essential items often produce nasty by-products which can pose hazards to human health and the environment.

Better catalysts can help solve that problem. For example, the same silver catalyst actually produces fewer toxic by-products—making the whole reaction more environmentally friendly.

At its heart, a catalyst is a way to save energy. And applying catalysts on a grand scale could save the world a lot of energy.