Lawrie Ryan and Roger Norris Solutions for Chapter: Rates of Reaction, Exercise 13: Question

Explain whether the reaction below is an example of heterogeneous catalysis or homogeneous catalysis:

$2{\mathrm{SO}}_2\left(\mathrm{g}\right) + {\mathrm{O}}_2\left(\mathrm{g}\right) \stackrel{{\mathrm{V}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_5\left(\mathrm{s}\right)}{\rightleftharpoons } {\mathrm{SO}}_3\left(\mathrm{g}\right)$

Explain how a catalyst increases the rate of reaction in terms of activation energy and the distribution of molecular energies in a sample of reactants.

Draw a reaction profile diagram to show a typical uncatalysed reaction and the catalysed version of the reaction. On your diagram show the activation energy for the catalysed and uncatalysed reactions.