Talk:Activation energy

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the activation energy of the catalyst is not equivalent with the heat, in the process that potassium chlorate produces oxygen, can we increase the temperature insteady of the catalyst -- manganese dioxide in the experiment? no!thus there is a difference between the catalyst and the energy (for example heat). though the catalyst can decrease the activation energy.

[edit] "Etc" needed?

In the first paragraph, this sentence:

This requires energy - activation energy - and comes from the heat of the system i.e., the translational, vibrational etc... energy of each molecule.

contains an "etc..." that I don't think is needed. First of all, "etc." and "..." is redundant (both mean "and so on"). Secondly, the heat is contained in the translations, vibrations, and rotations of the molecules. Couldn't the "etc." be replaced by "and rotational" without any loss of explanatory power. At room temperature, other degrees of freedom (such as electronic and nuclear transitions) make a negligible contribution to the heat capacity. So unless anyone objects, could the sentence instead read:

This requires energy - activation energy - and comes from the heat of the system, i.e. the translational, vibrational, and rotational energy of each molecule.

Hmm. Actually, that's wrong. There are a number of reactions where the activation energy is not supplied by heat. Specifically, there are electrochemcial reactions and photochemical reactions where the activation energy comes from electric fields or incident photons. Rare, sure, but certinally important. I'll edit the article to point out these cases. Syntax 15:03, 9 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Figure 1

The article refers to Figure 1 but there doesn't appear to be a figure 1. Was this text copied from somewhere? Perhaps it needs rewriting to remove the reference, but better if a figure 1 could be sourced and supplied showing a typical transition state energy plot? ++Lar: t/c 16:55, 1 January 2006 (UTC)