Which statement best describes the relationship between activation energy and rate of reaction?

a) increasing the activation energy can increase the rate of a reaction.

b) reducing the activation energy can increase the rate of a reaction.

c) there is no relationship between activation energy and rate of a reaction.

d) reducing the activation energy can decrease the rate of a reaction.

B) Reducing the activation energy can increase the rate of a reaction is the correct answer.

Explanation:

The relationship between the activation energy and the rate of reaction is that if activation energy is lower than reaction will be fast.Activation energy is the least amount of energy needed to begin a reaction.The activation energy of a chemical reaction can be reduced by adding an enzyme that lowers the activation energy without altering the product.If the activation energy is less then more energy will be there to carry out the chemical reaction.

B) Reducing the activation energy can increase the rate of a reaction.

Further explanationAccording to the theory of transition states, the reactants must reach a transition state before forming a product. The minimum kinetic energy that reactant particles must have to reach the transition state is called activation energy. If the energy produced from the collision of reactant particles does not reach the activation energy, the reaction will not produce a product. The lower the activation energy, the easier the reactant particles reach the transition state, the faster the reaction.

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Notes

If we want to increase the reaction rate, one of the factors that influence is the addition of a positive catalyst. Positive catalysts can reduce the activation energy so that many particles have kinetic energy above the activation energy.When the activation energy is low, the collision between the reacting particles will have enough energy to get past the activation energy barrier and produce a product.  The attached figure shows the energy diagram for an exothermic chemical reaction.  Higher curves indicate the path of the catalyst-free reaction.  The lower curve shows the reaction path employing the catalyst.  It should be observed that catalyzed reactions have lower activation energies than uncatalyzed reactions.As a whole, the catalyst accelerates the reaction rate by decreasing the activation energy of a reaction at a certain temperature. Learn moreWhich will increase the rate of a chemical reaction? The rate of a reaction  The rate of a reaction can be increased