The Arrhenius equation predicts the rate of a chemical reaction at a certain temperature, given the activation energy and chance of successful collision of molecules. It is named after Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius.
The average amount of thermal energy that molecules possess at a certain temperature is equal to RT, where R is the molar gas constant. The fraction of molecules that have enough energy to overcome the energy barrier (those with energy over the activation energy, E) depends exponentially on the ratio of the activation to thermal energy. This forms the Arrhenius equation:
Taking the natural logarithm of the Arrhenius equation yields
- See also: Kinetics