FACTORS AFFECTING RATE OF REACTION

CATALYST

WHAT IS CATALYST?
Catalyst is a substance that increase the rate of reaction without itself undergoing chemical change. Most catalyst work by providing an alternate route for the reaction which has a lower activation energy. When the reaction has finished, you would have exactly the same mass of catalyst as you had at the beginning.

WHAT IS ACTIVATION ENERGY?

Activation energy is defined as the minimum value of kinetic energy which particles must have before they are able to react.

PAY ATTENTION!!
An analogy: catalyst is the pass mark in an examination. By lowering the pass mark, a higher number of people would be able to achieve a pass with the same effort.

MAXWELL BOLTZMAN DISTRIBUTION CURVE

Only those particles represented by the area to the right of the activation energy will react when they collide. The great majority don't have enough energy, and will simply bounce apart.

 one possible way of doing this is to provide an alternative way for the reaction to happen which has a lower activation energy. In other words, to move the activation energy on the graph like this

EFFECT OF A CATALYST ON LOWERING THE ACTIVATION ENERGY

EXAMPLE OF CATALYST
reaction Decomposition of hydrogen peroxide Nitration of benzene Manufacture of ammonia by the Haber Process Conversion of SO2 into SO3 during the Contact Process to make sulphuric acid Hydrogenation of a C=C double bond catalyst manganese(IV) oxide, MnO2 concentrated sulphuric acid iron vanadium(V) oxide, V2O5 nickel

A word of caution!
Be very careful if you are asked about this in an exam. The correct form of words is: "A catalyst provides an alternative route for the reaction with a lower activation energy. It does not "lower the activation energy of the reaction".