Modeling Chemical Reaction

Chemical Change

Chemical change: the formation of one or more new chemical substances

with a distinct composition
Distinguish by chemical composition and structure of the interacting
substances, temperature and pressure of the surroundings, rate at which the
process occurs, the amount of energy in process, changes in phys properties
Reactant is initial substances
Product result of chemical reaction (new chem substances with different
chemical composition from reactants)
Reactions in closed environment conserve total mass
Net transfer:
o Endothermic energy absorption from surroundings
o Exothermic net release of energy from system to surroundings
Speed depends on chemical nature of reactants, temperature, pressure, and
concentration of reacting species

Basic Assumption

1. Particles make up reactants are rearranged. Substances with different

chemical composition are formed
o Involved breaking chemical bonds then form new chemical bonds
2. since rearrangement involves electron redistribution among different
atoms, the internal PE in system changes.

o
o

in B, internal PE of reactants is transformed into kinetic energy

(thermal energy) during chem process
3. For chemical reaction to occur, particles of different reactants must collide
o Depends on speed which depends on factors that makes speed faster
or slower

4. For chemical reaction to occur, Colliding particles must be oriented in a

manner that allows reacting groups to interact effectively.
o

5. For chemical reaction to occur, Colliding particles must have enough

energy to reach a transition state that leads to the formation of new products
o

Initial energy that needs to be supplied activation energy E_a

Increases internal PE of reactants and make them reach an
unstable state from which rearrangement would happen
Unstable state transition state
High energy intermediate step

of chem reaction depends

Frequency of collisions
KE of colliding particles
Activation energy
Config effectiveness (fraction of all possible collision btw reacting
species in which particles meet at effective orientations for the
reactions)
Exothermic are fast cuz energy that generate increases temperature of
reaction mixtures (so increases speed)
Rate
o
o
o
o

6. The final state of system is determined by the balance btwn these two
opposite processes when the particles of products regenerate reactants.

Products have lower PE (exothermic) than reactants = the height of activation

barrier for forward process is lower than backward
o Vice versa for endothermic
Exothermic processes reach larger reaction extents than endo and go to
completion