Chemistry / Unit 9 Chem 1689 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Activation Energy
Captions available
The idea
Activation energy is the minimum energy a properly oriented collision must supply for reactants to form products.
In practice
A reaction diagram plots the energy needed to climb from reactants to the reaction's highest-energy point as its activation energy.
Where people slip
Activation energy is unrelated to whether a reaction is overall exothermic or endothermic — both kinds of reaction still require energy to get started.
Your place on the trail
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