Chapter 59: Problem 8

What effect does a catalyst have on the stoichiometry of the balanced chemical equation describing a reaction? Explain your reasoning.

Short Answer

Expert verified

A catalyst doesn't affect the stoichiometry of the balanced chemical equation. While it does speed up a reaction by reducing the activation energy, it doesn't change the amounts of reactants used or products formed, which means the stoichiometric coefficients and the corresponding quantitative relationship remain unchanged.

Step by step solution

Understanding Catalyst

A catalyst is a substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without being consumed or changing the stoichiometry of the reaction. It achieves this by providing an alternate reaction pathway with a lower activation energy.

Understanding Stoichiometry in Chemical Reaction

Stoichiometry in a balanced chemical equation refers to the quantitative relationship between reactants and products. It tells us the amounts of reactants used and products formed in a reaction, which are determined by the coefficients in front of the substances in the balanced chemical equation.

Analysing the effect of a catalyst

Given the understanding from the previous steps, a catalyst does not affect the stoichiometry of a balanced chemical equation as the same amount of reactants still form the same amount of products, regardless of how quickly or slowly the reaction occurs. The catalyst isn’t included in the stoichiometric calculation as it doesn’t get consumed during the reaction.

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What effect does a catalyst have on the stoichiometry of the balanced chemical equation describing a reaction? Explain your reasoning.

Short Answer

Step by step solution

Understanding Catalyst

Understanding Stoichiometry in Chemical Reaction

Analysing the effect of a catalyst

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