Chemical Forums

Chemistry Forums for Students => High School Chemistry Forum => Topic started by: blueboing on February 12, 2006, 03:20:03 PM

Title: Why does a strong acid+metal reaction have a lower activation energy than a weak
Post by: blueboing on February 12, 2006, 03:20:03 PM
Hello, I have been doing some experiements designed to find out the difference in activation energy when reacting magnesium ribbon with Hydrochloric acid and magnesium ribbon with ethanoic acid. I worked out that the activation energy for the HCl experiment was 12.6KJ and the ethanoic experiment was 28.4KJ. I just wanted to know if anyone knows any theory behind this. Thanks
Title: Re: Why does a strong acid+metal reaction have a lower activation energy than a weak
Post by: Hello12 on February 01, 2009, 01:19:54 PM
Maybe because the bonds in the stronger acids are weaker, and the bonds in the weak acids are stronger. Or it could be to do with the number of H+ ions