Maxwells-Boltzmann distributions

• What does Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution curve show?

  The distribution of energies at a certain temperature
• in a sample of gas what to particles have

  some have low energy, some particles have very high energy, but most particles will have energy between
• What does this distribution show?

  only a small proportion of molecules in the sample have enough energy for an effective collision and for a chemical reaction to take place

  
• What happens when the temperature is increased?

  Particles gain more kinetic energy
• when temperature what do the particles do?

  more faster resulting in more frequent collisions
• when the proportion of successful collisions increases what happens to the activation energy?


  it increase to cause a chemical reaction
• what happens to the Boltzmann distribution with higher temperatures?

  the curve flattens and the peak shifts to the right
• what has happened to the temperature in this distribution?

  increased

  
• why does an increase in temperature cause and increased rate of reaction?

  • more effective collisions as the particles have more kinetic energy, so they move faster
  • a greater proportion of the molecules having kinetic energy greater that the activation energy