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Topic: Determining Activation Energy  (Read 2386 times)

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Offline MPQC

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Determining Activation Energy
« on: December 24, 2009, 05:11:13 PM »
Alright. Basically, I don't understand why the activation energy level is the way that it is, in my textbook.

The equation:

CO + NO2  :rarrow: CO2 + NO

Now. The enthalpies are as followed:

CO (C + 1/2O2  :rarrow: CO): -110.0
NO2 (1/2N2 + O2  :rarrow: NO2): +34
CO2 (C + O2 :rarrow: CO2): -393.5
NO (1/2N2 + 1/2O2  :rarrow: NO2): +90.4

The activation energy is 135, for the forward reaction. (CO + NO2). How exactly is this determined? (I can't seem to find it in my textbook anywhere. It shows nice diagrams, and I understand the concept, but it doesn't show any methods for determining what the point actually is.)

Thanks!

Offline Borek

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Re: Determining Activation Energy
« Reply #1 on: December 24, 2009, 05:34:34 PM »
Enthalpy of reaction and activation energy are NOT related. And activation energy is usually determined experimentally from the dependence between reaction speed and temperature.
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Offline MPQC

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Re: Determining Activation Energy
« Reply #2 on: December 24, 2009, 08:33:25 PM »
Thanks.

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