COLLISION THEORY

EFFECTIVE COLLISIONS
The collisions that are succesful in producing a chemical reactions. The collisions theory states that for a chemical reaction to occur , the reacting particles must :

 Collide with each other so that the breaking and formation of chemical bonds can occur. Posses energy that is equal to or more than the minimum energy called the activation energy Collide in the correct orientation.

Collisions between particles of reactant

Activation energy and energy profile diagram

 For a collision to be effective, the colliding reactant particles must have a certain amount of energy called the activation energy, Ea.

Activation energy, Ea is the minimum energy that the reactant particles must posses at the time of collision in order for a chemical reaction to take place.

 If the colliding reactant particles have energy equal to or more than Ea , then their collision will be effective. Lets now study figure that called an energy profile diagram. It shows the change in energy as the reactants change to become the products in a chemical reaction.

An energy profile diagram

 Locate the highest point on the curve. It shows the largest amount of energy in a reaction. The different between this largest amount of energy and the energy of the reactants is the activation energy, Ea. That is why the reactants must have at least Ea or more than Ea before they can react to form products.

Frequency of effective collisions and rate of reaction

 When there are more collisions between particles of reactants, there will also be more effective collisions.
There are two ways of saying this :
When the frequency of collisions increases, the frequency of effective collisions will also increase. When collision frequency increases, effective collisions frequency will also increase.

 Effective collisions result in chemical reaction . When effective collision frequency increases, the rate of reaction will also increase.

Frequency of effective collisions and factors influencing the rate of reaction

 According to the collision theory, two important factors that determine the rate of a chemical reaction are : a. The frequency of effective collisions b. The magnitude of the activation energy

a. Frequency of effective collisions

For a given reaction, if the frequency of collisions between reactant molecules is high, it follows that the frequency of effective collisions that causes a reaction to occur will also be high.
As a result, the rate of reaction increases.

b. Magnitude of activation energy

Reactions that have high activation energy will occur at a slow rate. This is because only a small fraction of the molecules possess sufficient energy to overcome the activation energy for the reaction to occur.

 In contrast, reactions that possess low activation energy will occur at a fast rate.

This is because most of the molecules have sufficient energy to overcome the activation energy and this enables the reaction to occur.

 In general, Any factor that increases the rate of effective collisions will also increase the rate of reaction.

Effect of surface area on the reaction rate

 The sodium chloride crystal as shown in Figure has a surface area of 16 cm3. When this crystal is divided into smaller crystals as shown figure, the total surface area is increased to 24 cm3
Surface area of the NaCl crystal = (1x2) x 4 + ( 2x2 ) x 2 = 16 cm3 Total surface area = ( 1x1 ) x 6 x 4 = 24 cm3

The smaller the particle size, the greater the total surface area exposed for reaction to occur

 The smaller the size of solid particles, the larger the total surface area exposed for collisions. This means that the frequency of effective collisions between reacting particles will increase.

As a result, the rate of reaction also increases.

Effect of concentration on the rate of reaction

 Magnesium reacts with dilute hydrochloric acid according to the equation : Mg (s) + 2HCl (aq) MgCl2 (aq) + H2 (g)

Figure shows the arrangement of particles in 1 mol dm-3 HCl and 2 mol dm-3 ( more concentration ) HCl.

Dilute solution

Concentrated solution

Arrangement of particles in dilute and concentrated solutions

 When the concentration of hydrochloric acid increases, the number particles per unit volume also increases and the particles are closer together. When the number of particles increases, the frequency of collisions also increases. This causes the rate of reaction to increase.

Effect of pressure on the rate of reaction

 In chemical reactions involving gases, increasing the pressure increases the rate of reaction. Conversely, decreasing the pressure decreases the rate of reaction.

For example, the rate of reaction between nitrogen and oxygen to produce nitrogen monoxide can be increased by increasing the pressure.

N2 (g) + O2 (g) 2NO

 At low pressure, the gaseous molecules are spread far apart. When the pressure is increased, the volume of the gas is reduced.

At low pressure

At high pressure

This means that at a high pressure :

a. The number of gaseous molecules per unit volume increased and b. The gaseous molecules are packed closer together.

 As a result, increasing the pressure causes the gaseous molecules to collide more frequently.

Consequently, the frequency of effective collisions increases and the rate of reaction also increases.

Effect of temperature on the rate of reaction

 Calcium carbonate reacts with hydrochloric acid to form carbon dioxide according to the following equation :
CaCO3 (s) + 2HCl (aq) CaCl2 (aq) + CO2 (g) + H2O (l)

 Figure shows the graphs of total volume of carbon dioxide given off against the time taken for the reaction between calcium carbonate and dilute HCl at 25OC and 30OC.

 At low temperature, particles of reactants move at a slower speed. However, when the temperature is increased, the particles absorb the heat energy.

As a result, the kinetic energy of the particles increases.

Hence, a. The reacting particles move faster b. The number of reacting particles with the activation energy required increases.

 Consequently, the frequency of effective collisions increases and hence the rate of reaction also increases. Temperature has a great effect on the rate of reaction. For most reactions, the rate of reaction approximately doubles when the temperature of reaction increases by 100C

Effect of catalysts on reaction rate