Chapter 5.5
Multistep Energy Profiles and Catalysis
A catalyst is used up in one step and handed back in another, so it never appears in the final equation and never runs out. It does not push the reaction; it digs a lower pass through the mountain.
in preparation · lesson 24 of 45
By the end
- 01Draw a multistep energy profile with each step's barrier and the overall energy change
- 02Identify the rate-determining step as the highest barrier on a profile
- 03Explain how a catalyst raises the rate by a new lower-energy path
- 04Distinguish acid–base, enzyme, and surface catalysis by the intermediates they create