Question
Question: At 407 K the rate constant of a chemical reaction is \(\text{9}\text{.5 x 1}{{\text{0}}^{-5}}\text{ ...
At 407 K the rate constant of a chemical reaction is 9.5 x 10−5 s−1 and at 420 K, the rate constant is1.9 x 10−4 s−1 . Calculate the frequency factor of the reaction.
Solution
The equation called Arrhenius equation is usually written as k=Ae−Ea/RT where the pre-exponential factor A is a constant and is called frequency factor and Ea is called the activation energy, R is the gas constant and T is the temperature. The activation energy is calculated by the formula logk1k2=2.303REa[T2T1T2−T1] where k1 and k2 are rate constants at different temperatures.
Complete answer:
According to the question,
Rate constant of the first reaction is 9.5 x 10−5 s−1at 407 K.
So,
k1=9.5 x 10−5 s−1
T1=407K
Rate constant of the second reaction is 1.9 x 10−4 s−1 at 420 K
So,
k2=1.9 x 10−4 s−1
T2=420K
The value of gas constant is taken in the SI unit. The value of R = 8.314 Jmol−1K−1
So, with all these factors we can calculate the value of activation energy.
The activation energy is calculated with the formula = logk1k2=2.303REa[T2T1T2−T1]
So, putting all the values, we get
log9.5 x 10−51.9 x 10−4=2.303 x 8.314Ea[420 x 407420−407]
Ea=75782.3Jmol−1
So, the value of activation energy is 757582.3 joule per mole
Since, we know the value of activation energy is calculated, now, the value of frequency factor can be calculated easily.
According to the Arrhenius equation,
k=Ae−Ea/RT
The logarithm form of this equation will be,
logk=logA−2.303RTEa
Since, we have two reactions, we can put the value of any reaction.
Let us take the first reaction:
k1=9.5 x 10−5 s−1
T1=407K
So, putting all the values in the equation, we get
log9.5 x 10−5=logA−2.303 x 8.314 x 40775782.3
log9.5 x 10−5A=2.303 x 8.314 x 40775782.3=9.7246
A = antilog (9.7246)
A=5.04 x 105s−1
So, the value of frequency factor is 5.04 x 105s−1 .
Note: To find the frequency factor it is not necessary to apply the equation on the first reaction, we can put the values of any reaction in the formula. The Arrhenius equation tells the effect of temperature on the rate of reaction.