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Collision Theory Models - Catalysts

By clicking and holding a stationary particle you can drag the particle back to give it energy. This is recorded on screen as Energy.
Temperature is a measure of the average kinetic energy of the molecules.

The number of collisions between different coloured balls is counted (equivalent to a reaction).

To stop the animation control-click in the window.
To reset press the re-fresh button in your browser.
No Catalyst
Catalyst

Experiment:

  1. Try releasing the balls in one model with a given energy and stopping it after a set time.
  2. Record the number of collisions.
  3. Repeat with the other model.

Questions:

  1. Can you explain the difference?
  2. Can you describe how this model differs from real life?
  3. Which of the differences in Qu.2 are significant?

Note:

One inaccuracy in the model is the way acceleration is provided by the catalyst. This is due to ensuring that the program works quickly. The attraction is not proportional to distance and only applies each tick of the animation. This means that on occasions two accelerations are provided to a particle approaching the catalyst but due to the speed of the particles leaving only one deceleration applied. This tends to slowly increase the average speed of the particles with the catalyst. Rather than re-program and slow the animation down I instead chose to note that this is what does happen in the case of a catalysed exothermic reaction.

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