why does a catalyst cause a reaction to proceed faster?

Question

in chemistry!..........

Answer 1

For a reaction to initiate, it requires a minimum energy called activation energy.
Catalyst helps decrease the activation energy and thus the reaction proceeds faster.
It changes the mechanism of a reaction to one involving less activation energy, but does not change the overall process.
It also helps reach the euilibrium sooner.

Answer 2

Because that's what it does... sometimes it's just heat as the catalyst, and sometimes it's another chemical that reacts a certain way with one of the elements in the equation. I don't know if that really answered the question, I mean a catalyst is called a catalyst because it makes the reaction go faster. I'm talking in circles now...

Answer 3

A catalyst changes the nature of a reaction so that less energy is required. In the process, though the catalyst becomes a part of the reaction, it is not consumed in the reaction, and therefore can continue to assist in further reactions.

Answer 4

The catalyst can provide a large surface area for the reaction, or form an unstable intermediate between two compounds. The intermediate then decomposes to give products and the catalyst back. Or it can simply bring the reactants close to each other.

Answer 5

Example:: An inorganic catalyst could be a metal. The metal interacts with molecules in a stabilizing fashion. By stabilizing, i mean literally "holding down" certain reactants so that it could be more easily interacted with the other reactant(s). And by interact i mean hydrogen bonding, van der waals interactions (Usually not covalent interaction since this is too strong and would halt reaction).

Organic catalyst could be enzymes that basically do the same thing (stabilize so that the reactants could have easier access to the bonding site).

Answer 6

Any reaction needs an energy to take place! For a reaction this can be smaller or greater than a reference ... This energy is called the activation energy, and can be decreased using a catalyst that transforms the bigger single peak into two or three smaller peaks (easily to reach) ...

Answer 7

Each catalyst has its own way of functioning but in general,a catalysts functions by lowering the energy of activation which in turns makes the rate constant larger and hence the rate of reaction high

Activation energy: the extra amount of energy which has to be supplied to the reacting species in their normal energy state to make their energy equal to threshold energy.

Answer 8

Reaction with the catalyst has a lower activation energy than the reaction without the catalyst.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalyst
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activation_energy