Question:
What is the effect of temperature on the rate constant of a reaction? How can this temperature effect on rate constant be represented quantitatively?
Solution:
The rate constant is nearly doubled with a rise in temperature by 10° for a chemical reaction.
The temperature effect on the rate constant can be represented quantitatively by Arrhenius equation,
$k=\mathrm{A} e^{-E_{\mathrm{a}} / \mathrm{R} T}$
where, k is the rate constant,
A is the Arrhenius factor or the frequency factor,
R is the gas constant,
T is the temperature, and
Ea is the energy of activation for the reaction