The gas-phase reaction has an activation energy of
CHEMISTRY · Single correct · CBSE · Chemistry · Chemical Kinetics · Chemical Kinetics
Problem
The gas-phase reaction CO+NO2→CO2+NO has an activation energy of 60kJ mol−1. At 300 K, 6% of collisions meet or exceed this energy, and only 4% of those energetic collisions have the required orientation (the carbon end of CO striking the nitrogen atom of NO2).
Two independent strategies are proposed to increase the reaction rate:
(a) Raise the temperature to 330 K, which increases the fraction of energetic collisions to 15% while leaving the orientation factor unchanged.
(b) Use polarized laser light at 300 K to align the reactant molecules, raising the orientation factor to 12% while the energetic fraction remains 6%.
Which of the following comparisons of the two strategies is most accurate?
(a) Strategy (b) produces a smaller increase in successful collisions than strategy (a).
(b) Both strategies increase the number of successful collisions by the same factor.
(c) Strategy (b) produces a larger increase in successful collisions than strategy (a).
(d) Strategy (a) roughly triples the number of successful collisions, whereas strategy (b) only about doubles it.