Arrhenius equation and activation energy
Ecuación de Arrhenius y energía de activación (cinética química)
- Date
- 1889 · confidence high
- Place
- Uppsala, Sweden
- Credited to
- Svante Arrhenius (with precedents from van 't Hoff, Wilhelmy and Harcourt-Esson)
- People
- 👤 Svante August Arrhenius1859–1927
- Field
- Matter & energy
What was discovered
The rate constant of a reaction grows exponentially with temperature according to an activation energy that molecules must overcome. It formalises the chemical kinetics begun by Wilhelmy (1850) and van 't Hoff (1884).
What it led to
- Transition state theory (Eyring, 1935)
- Quantitative catalysis
- Reactor engineering
Built on
- Law of mass action1864
- Van't Hoff's 'Études de dynamique chimique'
Made possible
- Organic reaction mechanisms (Ingold, Hughes)1930-1935
- Transition state theory1935
- industrial process rate control
- quantified cold food preservation