Effect of catalysts
The rate of a reaction can be increased by adding a suitable A substance that changes the rate of a chemical reaction without being changed by the reaction itself..
Only a very small amount of catalyst is needed to increase the rate of reaction between large amounts of reactants.
A catalyst is specific to a particular reaction:
- different catalysts catalyse different reactions
- not all reactions have suitable catalysts
Graph showing effectiveness of different metal oxides as catalysts for the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide
This table summarises some common catalysts used in industry and the reactions they catalyse:
| Catalyst | Reaction catalysed |
| Iron | Making ammonia from nitrogen and hydrogen |
| Platinum | Making nitric acid from ammonia |
| Vanadium(V) oxide | Making sulfuric acid |
| Catalyst | Iron |
|---|---|
| Reaction catalysed | Making ammonia from nitrogen and hydrogen |
| Catalyst | Platinum |
|---|---|
| Reaction catalysed | Making nitric acid from ammonia |
| Catalyst | Vanadium(V) oxide |
|---|---|
| Reaction catalysed | Making sulfuric acid |