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Equation 1 · Part 3 · How Chemical Dynamics and Catalysis Actually Work

Symbol e^-E_a/RT

k=A e−Ea/RTk = A\, e^{-E_a/RT}
e−Ea/RTe^{-E_a/RT}

What this part means

e−e^-EaE_a/RT is one of the signed contributions combined to compute the quantity on the left.

Its job in the formula

e−e^-EaE_a/RT is one of the signed contributions combined to compute the quantity on the left.

The passage around this formula

A useful way to see why the peak exists at all is the Arrhenius picture underneath it. The observed rate constant is k=A e−Ea/RTk = A\, e^{-E_a/RT}. and a catalyst’s whole job is to substitute a smaller EaE_a — the barrier of the new surface-mediated path — for the barrier of the uncatalyzed reaction, without introducing a rate-limiting binding or release step that reintroduces a large barrier somewhere else in the cycle.

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Learn the underlying idea

A subscript is a label attached below a symbol. It often selects a time step, component, category, or member of a sequence.

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Sources cited in the article section

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