CHEMICAL REACTIONS
A chemical reaction is a process where a set of substances undergo a chemical change to form a different substance.
Reactants and Products
Reactants and reagents are the substances that are used to bring about the chemical reaction. A reactant is any substance that is consumed or used up during the reaction. The substance that is produced by a chemical reaction is called the product.
Chemical reactions can be represented simply on paper by chemical equations involving only formula and symbols e.g.
Reaction time: The total time taken for a particular reaction to take place.
Reaction rate: is the number of moles of reactions converted or product formed per unit time. Unit is moldm-3s-1
In all chemical reactions, existing bonds in the reactants particles must be broken first before new bonds can be formed to form products. The breakings of bonds require energy. An initial energy input is required to activate the reactant particles. This energy is the activation energy of the reaction. The activation energy of a reaction is equivalent to that energy barrier that must be overcome before bonds are broken to enable the reaction to occur.
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