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Want to pull an Oliver Twist and ask us for more? We've gotcha covered. Head over to /video/subjects/test-prep/ap/ap-chemistry/ for more AP Chemistry goodness. Porridge not included. 

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Transcript

00:03

And here’s your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by forward reactions, when somebody

00:08

responds to your flirting with… more flirting. [Man gives woman a bunch of flowers]

00:10

All right, here’s today’s question:

00:12

Which of the following is true of catalysts?

00:15

And here are your potential answers: All right, let’s get up to speed on catalysts. [Men cycling]

00:22

The purpose of a catalyst is to increase the rate of a reaction.

00:26

Meaning that a substance that inhibits a reaction is not a catalyst… [Catalyst added to a beaker]

00:29

Duh.

00:30

So we can cross out D right off the bat.

00:33

And how does a catalyst increase a reaction rate? [A reaction rate graph]

00:36

By lowering the energy of an intermediate or transition state in the reaction mechanism.

00:41

This decreases the activation energy barrier, which makes the reaction go faster.

00:45

If only there were catalysts for doing that 8-page paper that’s due tomorrow, eh? [Woman scientist staring at a catalyst]

00:50

Just like your car, chemical reactions can go in the forward and reverse directions. [Car travelling up and down a hill]

00:54

The mechanism for the reverse direction is often just the forward mechanism, backwards.

00:58

That makes sense, right? [Car reverses up a hill]

01:00

So if a catalyst lowers the energy of a transition state, it can make both the forward and reverse

01:05

reactions faster.

01:07

That means that the correct answer is B. Now don’t go get that paper done. [Person orders boy to finish his paper]

01:12

That was reverse psychology.

01:14

Is it working? [Boy working on his paper at his desk]

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