A Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution describes the range of molecular kinetic energies in a gas sample at a fixed temperature. Consider a sealed sample of hydrogen gas initially at 300 K that is then warmed to 320 K.
(a) Describe how the position of the peak and the width of the Maxwell–Boltzmann curve change as the temperature increases from 300 K to 320 K. Comment on whether the total area under the curve changes.
(b) A certain elementary reaction occurring in the hydrogen gas has an activation energy of 60 kJ mol⁻¹. Explain qualitatively how the change in the energy distribution you described in part (a) affects the fraction of molecular collisions that can lead to reaction.
(c) Experiments show that the rate of the reaction doubles between 300 K and 320 K even though the total number of collisions per second increases by only about 5 %. Use your reasoning from parts (a) and (b) to account for this observation.