[Peripants]

Without the help of catalysts, what would this value be? I’ve looked everywhere but all the sources I’ve found are too complex for me to understand and don’t actually state any values. I want to know what the activation energy is for the reaction when ethanol in wine oxidises into an aldehyde and then into acetic acid.

[sjb]

I don't think there is a single activation energy as such, otherwise our theory of catalysis might need a rethink. The slow step may be for instance removal of a C-H bond from CH₃CH₂OH, for instance but this does depend on the mechanisms in use.

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