Skip to main content

The "Catalysts Shift Equilibrium" Misreading

This video presents the same text shown beside it, spoken and on screen. It adds nothing the text does not say.

State

A catalyst speeds how fast a reaction reaches equilibrium, but does not shift where equilibrium lies, lowering forward and reverse activation energy equally.

Show

A catalyzed reaction and its uncatalyzed version reach the identical final product-to-reactant ratio; the catalyzed one arrives sooner.

Watch for

"Catalysts speed up reactions" is easy to over-extend into "catalysts favor products" — only speed changes, not position.