In this blog post, we will take a look at catalysts, which are important elements that determine the speed of chemical reactions, in an easy and interesting way.
Time is finite, and everyone’s wish and goal is to achieve as much as possible in that time. You can show your competitiveness by making that possible. In chemical reactions, there is a substance that helps make this possible. That substance is a catalyst. How does this catalyst help chemical reactions to occur quickly?
In fact, the term “catalyst” does not refer to a single substance, but rather to a collective term for substances that perform such a function. This means that the type of catalyst may vary depending on the reaction. Let’s now explain the reaction principle of catalysts. All reactions require the transfer of activation energy to proceed. Activation energy is, as the name suggests, the minimum energy required to activate the reaction. The catalyst lowers this activation energy, allowing the reaction to occur with less energy than the original reaction. This speeds up the reaction. This is similar to the phenomenon where a car can travel further on the same amount of energy on a smooth, well-paved road than on a bumpy mountain road.
The catalyst also has a curious reaction structure. It is most often compared to the locks we have used at least once. Catalysts, like keys, each have a unique shape. And just as there is only one lock for each key, there is only one catalyst that works on one substrate. So it plays a role in opening the substrate so that it can react easily. Just as a key does not wear out no matter how many times it opens a lock, a catalyst speeds up chemical reactions without sacrificing itself.
The speed of chemical reactions generally increases as the temperature rises, but the temperature at which we live is actually very low, so many chemical reactions occur slowly. For example, only about 100 years ago, there were no chemical fertilizers to be applied from the outside. The reason for this was that the production rate of ammonia, an important ingredient, was very slow at the Earth’s temperature and pressure. As a result, the agricultural yield was naturally much lower than it is now, and many people suffered from famine. At that time, a scientist named Fritz Haber used catalysts and reaction rates to synthesize nitrogen (N₂) and hydrogen (H₂) from the air to quickly produce ammonia (NH₃). As a result, he earned the glorious nickname of the scientist who solved humanity’s hunger and turned the air into bread.
Catalysts are having a significant impact on improving the quality of human life in this way. Catalysts are used in various industries and are deeply ingrained in our daily lives. For example, catalytic converters are used to reduce vehicle emissions, which plays an important role in protecting the environment. Catalysts also play an essential role in the production of pharmaceuticals, enabling efficient and economical production.
Catalysts play an important role in various fields, but it is still a major challenge to find the optimal catalyst for many chemical reactions. Each chemical reaction requires a unique catalyst, and research is actively underway to find it. In the future, we will be able to develop effective catalysts for more reactions, providing optimized solutions in terms of economic and environmental aspects.
Catalysts lower the activation energy of chemical reactions without consuming themselves, helping the reactions to occur in a short period of time. Catalysts have a great impact on the clothes we wear, the food we eat, and the tools we use, and they help us a lot, but there is a limit to the number of chemical reactions that can be catalyzed. Therefore, it will be a major challenge to continue to learn the principles of each of these chemical reactions and find catalysts that are economically and environmentally optimized. In that respect, catalysts will continue to give us challenges like an inexhaustible spring, and we will solve them.
Catalysts play an important role in our lives and will continue to do so. Innovative catalyst research will be the key to a sustainable and efficient future. Therefore, we must make the most of the potential of catalysts to create a better world.
