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AP Chemistry Unit 5.5 Collision Model

Collision Model

  • Collision Model: the energy (for breaking bonds of reactants) comes from the kinetic energies possessed by the reacting molecules before the collision
    • Key idea: the rate of a reaction depends on the number of successful collisions and these collisions provide the energy for molecules to react and form products
  • In order for a reaction to occur and products to be made
    • Reactant molecules must collide
    • Must collide with enough energy
    • Must make contact at correct molecular orientation that allow the bonds to rearrange in the required manner
  • Only a small fraction of collisions produce a reaction bcuz…
    • The collision energy must equal or exceed the activation energy
    • Reactants must collide at a correct molecular orientation
      • Is why the observed rate of reaction is less than the number of collisions that have the minimum energy
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