Collision Theory

• In order for a reaction to occur successfully, reactant particles must collide with sufficient energy to surpass the activation energy of the reaction.
• The activation energy is the minimum amount of energy required for two particles to react.
• Maxwell-Boltzmann Distributions illustrate the patterns in the energies of different molecules in a substance. These graphs measure the number of molecules against the kinetic energy of the particles.
• On a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution, the most probable energy is shown by the highest point on the curve.
• Changing the reaction conditions will alter the shape of a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution, so that the number of particles with energy greater than the activation energy is different.
• Even if reaction conditions change, the total area under a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution represents the total number of molecules in the sample, so must remain constant.