Reactivity (chemical)
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The English used in this article may not be easy for everybody to understand. (September 2011) |
The chemical reactivity of a substance is how much it tends to take part in a chemical reaction.[1] Reactivity is a measure of how a substance reacts with other things. Some substances are more reactive, and others are less reactive. Reactivity is set by several factors:
- the range of circumstances (conditions that include temperature, pressure, or presence of catalysts) in which the substance reacts,
- the range of substances that will react with it,
- the equilibrium point of the reaction (that is, the extent to which all of it reacts), or
- the speed of the reaction.
Reactivity involves both the thermodynamics and kinetics of the particular chemical reaction. A reaction will be more reactive if the total energy of the products is less than the total energy of the reactants. A reaction will be more reactive if the energy of its transition is low.
References [change]
- ↑ "Chemical Reactivity". University of Waterloo. http://science.uwaterloo.ca/~cchieh/cact/applychem/reactivity.html. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
