Chemistry / Unit 9 Chem 1729 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The "Catalysts Shift Equilibrium" Misreading
Captions available
The idea
A catalyst speeds how fast a reaction reaches equilibrium, but does not shift where equilibrium lies, lowering forward and reverse activation energy equally.
In practice
A catalyzed reaction and its uncatalyzed version reach the identical final product-to-reactant ratio; the catalyzed one arrives sooner.
Where people slip
"Catalysts speed up reactions" is easy to over-extend into "catalysts favor products" — only speed changes, not position.
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