Chapter 3
Ch. 3 Insert
More on Activation Energy
The activation energy can be thought of as a barrier to the reaction. One way to view the barrier to a reaction is through the reaction coordinates. These coordinates denote the energy of the system as a function of progress along the reaction path. For the reaction
the reaction coordinate is
Progress along reaction path
We see that for the reaction to occur, the reactants must overcome an energy barrier or activation energy EA.