REACTANTS, PRODUCTS, REACTION TIME, AND REACTION RATE.

Reactants are starting materials and are written on the left-hand side of the equation.

Products are the end result of the reaction and are written on the right-hand side of the equation.

Reaction Time

When one or more reactants are converting to products, they may go through different modifications
and energy changes. The chemical bonds in the reactants break and new bonds are formed, to generate
products, which are totally different from the reactants. This kind of chemical modification is known as
chemical reaction. The time taken to complete a reaction to a certain extent is known as reaction time.
The time depends on various factors that affect the reaction.

Reaction Rate

Reaction rate is simply the indication of the speed of the reaction. Therefore, it can be regarded as a
parameter, which determines how fast or how slow is a reaction. Naturally, some reactions are very slow,
so we cannot even see the reaction taking place unless we observe it for a very long time. For example,
rock weathering by chemical processes is a very slow reaction, which takes place over the years. In
contrast, reaction of a piece of potassium with water is very rapid; thus, producing a large amount of
heat and it is considered as a vigorous reaction

The rate of a chemical reaction is the number of moles of reactant converted or product formed per unit
time.

Rate of reaction=Amount of reactant used/Time taken for the consumption of the reactant

Teacher explains the collision theory.

COLLISION THEORY

The Collision Theory assumes that there must be collisions between reactant particles for a chemical
reaction to occur. Although there are many such collisions, only a small fraction of them result in a
reaction; these are called effective collisions.

In a reaction system, particles move about at different speeds as they possess different amounts of
energy. For a chemical reaction to occur, the colliding reactant particles must possess a certain minimum
amount of energy, called activation energy.

In all chemical reactions, existing bonds in the reactant particles have to be broken first before new
bonds can be formed to produce product particles. The breaking of bonds requires energy and is
possible only if the reactant particles collide with sufficient energy to overcome this energy barrier. If the
energy of the colliding reactant particles is less than the activation energy, they merely rebound from
each other and no reaction occurs. Reaction occurs if the energy of the colliding reactant particles is
equal to or more than the activation energy.

Every reaction has its own energy of activation.

A reaction with a low activation energy will take place spontaneously at room temperature. A reaction
with a high activation energy will only take place if energy is supplied, usually in the form of heat, light or
electrical energy. The addition of a catalyst lowers the activation energy of a reaction.