I’ve asked this question to multiple teachers and googled it multiple times only to hear “yeah if you put a catalyst in a chemical it reacts faster” but I want to know what the catalyst actually does to do this
In: Chemistry
Thankyou for all the answers, they make so much more sense!
I now understand that catalysts aren’t all the same mechanism and work in different ways, simply making a specific reaction easier
A molecule having an element in it loosely connected can be a catalyst because the same element in another molecule has a much stronger bond would require significantly more energy, while that first molecule can take the element back from the reaction and was just used to crack the other molecule (or something along those lines, I haven’t done chemistry since high school lol)
The example is was taught in school was in electrolysis a slab of carbon at the bottom of the tank makes the reaction easier and for the rest of my life I always just assumed a catalyst just sits there and magic makes it work easier
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