A cake batter kept at 25 °C spoils in about three days
CHEMISTRY · Single correct · AP · Chemistry · Kinetics · Kinetics
Problem
A cake batter kept at 25 °C spoils in about three days, whereas at 35 °C it spoils in less than one day. Which of the following best explains this dramatic difference in reaction rate?
(a) Increasing the temperature shifts the equilibrium of the decomposition toward products; this drives the reaction to occur more rapidly.
(b) Higher temperature increases the collision frequency only, making almost every collision effective regardless of energy.
(c) The temperature increase lowers the activation energy, so molecules need less energy to react.
(d) At 35∘C, a much larger fraction of collisions have sufficient energy to overcome the activation energy barrier, dramatically increasing the reaction rate.