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Intermediate · 2 min

Factors affecting reaction rate

Reaction rate measures how quickly reactants disappear or products form. Reacting particles must meet with suitable orientation and enough energy. Temperature, concentration, surface area, and catalysts can affect rate. For a solid reacting at its surface, smaller pieces expose more surface area than one large piece of the same total mass. More contact can make the reaction faster. A faster reaction does not automatically produce a larger final amount of product.

Practice

Why can a powdered solid react faster than a large piece of the same mass?