8.5.

5 The rate of energy release is affected by such factors as types of

reactants
Combustion
All combustion reactions are spontaneous – once ignited they continue without
further assistance until all fuel is used
The rate at which reactants disappear or the rate at which products form.
The rate of a reaction, at any particular time, is defined as the change in
concentration of a substance in a short interval of time divided by that time interval.
(Gradient)
Reaction rate decreases as the reaction proceeds
Not all reactions proceed at the same rate

Slow – large lumps of fuel, limited air supply, take many hours to burn. Rusting is an
example of a slow combustion reaction.

Spontaneous – materials with low activation energy and ignition temperature

examples include, brown coal deposits, haystacks, oily cotton rags, white
phosphorous. burning of methane, kerosene or powdered coal in power stations etc,
large surface area in contact with excess oxygen, good mixing

Explosive - cylinders of petrol in vehicle engines, sparks used to ignite heated

mixture of petrol and air. An extremely rapid reaction, completed in a few
microseconds. Other examples include, hydrogen and oxygen, hydrogen and
chlorine, dust explosions
For combustion reactions

Reaction rates
The rate at which reactants disappear or the rate at which products form.

The rate of a reaction, at any particular time, is defined as the change in

concentration of a substance in a short interval of time divided by that time interval.

Factors influencing rates of reaction

The nature of the reactants - By examining many different reactions,
chemists have produced some guidelines that are sometimes useful in helping to
predict reaction rates. These are as follows:

• If a reaction does not involve bonding rearrangements, it is likely to be rapid

at room temperature. For example, the reaction between Ag+(aq) and Cl–(aq)
occurs as a result of simple collisions between these two types of ions. No
complex bond-breaking and bond-forming processes are required.

• If a reaction involves the breaking of bonds, it is likely to be slow at room

temperature. For example, the reaction between methane and oxygen
involves the breaking of bonds in both the CH4(g) and the O2(g) molecules.
These processes will only take place if the collisions between molecules occur
with sufficient energy and have suitable orientation.
8.5.5 The rate of energy release is affected by such factors as types of
reactants
Concentration of reactants – increasing the concentration of a reactant
generally increases the rate of reaction. As a reaction proceeds, the
concentration of reactants decreases and the rate of reaction decreases.

Temperature – for most reactions the rate increases as temperature increases,

this increase can be quite marked (a doubling of the rate with a 10oC increase in
temperature.

The surface area of the reactants - In heterogeneous systems, the surface

area of the solid or liquid can affect the reaction rate. For example, a log of wood
cut into smaller pieces burns far more rapidly than if it were in one piece. The
effect of cutting the log into pieces is to expose more of the wood to the oxygen
that it needs for combustion.

Catalysts – substances which increase the rate of reaction without undergoing

permanent chemical change in the reaction.

Collisions and reaction rates

For a reaction to occur, the reactant particles must collide

The collision theory requires that for a collision between reactant particles to lead to
a chemical reaction, the following conditions must be fulfilled:
• The molecules must collide with sufficient energy to disrupt the bonds of the
reactant molecules.

• The molecules must collide with an orientation that is suitable for the breaking
of some bonds and the formation of others.
For a reaction to occur between reactant molecules, they must collide with a certain
minimum energy. Unless this minimum collision energy is exceeded, the colliding
molecules will simply rebound and move away from each other. The minimum
energy that is required for a collision to result in a reaction is known as the
activation energy for the particular reaction.

Anything that increases the rate at which collisions occur will increase the rate of
reaction.

• Increased concentration – increases the number of particles per unit volume

so increases the chance of collisions

• Size of particles – smaller pieces increases surface area so increasing the

number of collisions in a heterogeneous reaction, stirring a reaction mixture
will also increase the number of collisions in a given time.

• Temperature - increasing temperature increases the average kinetic energy

(and so the speed) of particles. This increases the speed of collisions and so
8.5.5 The rate of energy release is affected by such factors as types of
reactants
the rate of reaction. However, this alone does not explain the rapid increase in
the reaction rate, there is another factor involved

o For a reaction to proceed, the reactant molecules need to collide with a

minimum amount of kinetic energy to overcome the energy barrier
(activation energy) otherwise they just bounce apart and remain as
reactants.
o At room temperature average kinetic energy may be low, though some
molecules will have much higher levels than the average. In some cases
this may be enough to overcome the energy barrier (slow but significant
reaction rate)
o Increasing temperature not only increases average kinetic energy, but
also the fraction of molecules with enough energy to overcome the
energy barrier, so the reaction rate increases
o In general the larger the activation energy the smaller the reaction rate.
The higher the activation energy the greater the rate increase as
temperature increases.
o Reactions with small activation energies will proceed quite rapidly at
room temperature

• Catalysts – may be homogeneous (working through the bulk of the reaction)

or heterogeneous (providing a surface on which the reaction occurs more
rapidly than in the bulk of the reaction). Catalyst usually provide a pathway of
lower activation energy thus increasing the rate of reaction, they DO NOT
have any effect on H, the enthalpy change of the reaction. Enzymes are
biological catalysts.