91Ó°ÊÓ

Catalyst are substances which increases the rate of the reaction without getting used up by themselves while decreasing the activation energy of the reaction. Activation energy is the energy difference between the initial reagents and the transition state(it is the state where the energy is maximum on the reaction coordinate diagram).

• Catalyst increases the rate of reaction.
• Catalyst accelerates the rate of a reaction by decreasing the activation energy.
• Catalysts may provide different reaction mechanisms involving extra steps in the reaction and lower the activation energy simultaneously increasing the reaction rate.
• Catalyst is regenerated during the reaction.

As both reactions (a) and (b) have same activation energy, these two reactions have same rate. Thus, reactions both (a) and (b) have the same rate.