Q.What is meant by "Selectivity of Catalyst"?
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A catalyst is a substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without itself undergoing any permanent chemical change; using one also lowers the reaction temperature and energy costs needed. Catalysis is homogeneous when the catalyst and reactants share one phase -- e.g. iodide ion catalysing aqueous H2O2 decomposition, nitric oxide catalysing SO2 to SO3 oxidation in the lead-chamber process, H+ (from H2SO4) catalysing sucrose hydrolysis to glucose and fructose, and enzyme catalysis -- and heterogeneous when catalyst and reactants are in different phases, typically a solid catalyst acting on gaseous or liquid reactants at its surface -- e.g. iron (with K2O/Al2O3 promoters) in the Haber process, finely divided Ni/Pd/Pt hydrogenating vegetable oils to solid fat, and au …
A catalyst can steer the same reactants toward one product rather than another, and this ability to favour a particular outcome is what the term selectivity describes. …
Selectivity is a catalyst's ability to steer a reaction toward one specific product.
Selectivity of a catalyst is its ability to direct a reaction to give a particular (selective) product. Using the same reactants but different catalysts can give different products. For example, carbon monoxide and hydrogen give methane with a nickel catalyst, methanol with a Cu/ZnO–Cr2O3 catalyst, and higher …
- CBSE 2025Set X11 markMCQQ.Which of the following explains the increase in the reaction rate by a catalyst?(a) Catalyst decreases the rate of backward reaction so that rate of forward reaction increases(b) Catalyst provides extra energy to reacting molecules, so that they produce effective collisions(c) Catalyst provides an alternative pathway by reducing the activation energy between the reactants and products(d) Catalyst increases the number of collisions between the reacting molecules
›Reveal solutionSolution
A catalyst speeds up a reaction by providing an alternative pathway with lower activation energy — option (c).
According to the intermediate-complex / alternative-path theory, a catalyst combines with the reactants to give a reaction path whose activation energy Ea is lower than that of the uncatalysed reaction. Because the rate constant k=Ae−Ea/RT increases as Ea decreases, a larger fraction of molecules now possess energy ≥Ea, so the reaction rate increases.
Why the others are wrong: …
- CBSE 2024Set A11 markMCQQ.The catalyst in a chemical reaction provides an alternate pathway or reaction mechanism by decreasing ;(a) Activation energy(b) Kinetic energy(c) Normal energy of reacting species(d) Potential energy
›Reveal solutionSolution
A catalyst speeds a reaction by lowering its activation energy — option (a).
A catalyst does not change the thermodynamics (ΔG, ΔH) of a reaction; instead it provides an alternative reaction pathway with a lower activation energy Ea. With a smaller energy barrier, a larger fraction of molecular collisions have enough energy to react, so the rate increas …
- CBSE 2022Set M1 markQ.What is meant by "Selectivity of Catalyst"?
›Reveal solutionSolution
Selectivity is a catalyst's ability to steer a reaction toward one specific product.
Selectivity of a catalyst is its ability to direct a reaction to give a particular (selective) product. Using the same reactants but different catalysts can give different products. For example, carbon monoxide and hydrogen give methane with a nickel catalyst, methanol with a Cu/ZnO–Cr2O3 catalyst, and higher …
- CBSE 2022Set M1 markQ.Give one example for heterogeneous catalysis.
›Reveal solutionSolution
Synthesis of ammonia by Haber's process (Fe catalyst) is a heterogeneous catalysis example.
In heterogeneous catalysis the catalyst is in a different phase from the reactants. A standard example is the Haber process, where gaseous reactants react over a solid iron catalyst:
N2(g)+3H2(g)Fe(s)2NH3(g). …
- CBSE 2022Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.Shape selective catalysis is a reaction catalysed by(a) zeolite(b) enzymes(c) platinum(d) Ziegler-Natta catalyst
›Reveal solutionSolution
Shape-selective catalysis depends on a catalyst having uniform, molecule-sized pores/cavities — a structural feature unique to zeolites among the given options — so (a) is correct.
What shape-selective catalysis means
Shape-selective catalysis is a reaction whose outcome (which reactants can react, or which product isomer forms) is controlled by the pore size and cage geometry of the catalyst, which physically excludes molecules that are too large to enter, or too large to form and exit. This requires a catalyst with a rigid, uniform, microporous framework.
Why zeolites fit
Zeolites are microporous, three-dimensional aluminosilicates (Mx/n[(AlO2)x(SiO2)y]⋅mH2O) built from SiO4 and AlO4 tetrahedra sharing oxygen atoms, forming honeycomb-like frameworks with cavities and channels of precise molecular dimensions. Because only molecules of a matching size/shape can diffuse into these channels to reach the active Bronsted-acid sites, zeolites act as molecular sieves and catalyse reactions selectively by size/shape — the classic industrial example being ZSM-5, used to convert alcohols directly into gasoline-range hydrocarbons and to crack larger hydrocarbons in petroleum refining.
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- CBSE 2021Set OC1 markQ.Write one difference between Homogeneous catalysis and heterogeneous catalysis.
›Reveal solutionSolution
The two classes of catalysis are distinguished purely by whether the catalyst shares the same phase as the reactants (homogeneous) or is present in a different phase (heterogeneous, generally a solid surface).
Homogeneous catalysis
Catalyst and reactants are all in one phase (all gases, or all in solution). Example: in the lead-chamber process, gaseous NO catalyses the oxidation of gaseous SO2: 2SO2(g)+O2(g)NO(g)2SO3(g) — catalyst and reactants are all gaseous.
Heterogeneous catalysis
Catalyst is in a distinct phase from the reactants — most commonly a solid catalyst acting on gaseous or liquid reactants, where the reaction proceeds via adsorption of reactants onto the catalyst's surface. Example: Haber's process, N2(g)+3H2(g)Fe(s)2NH3(g), where solid iron catalyses a gas-phase reaction.
The key difference
Homogeneous Heterogeneous Phase of catalyst vs reactants Same phase Different phase - CBSE 2017Set ANNUAL1 markQ.What is meant by selectivity of a catalyst?
›Reveal solutionSolution
Selectivity is the catalyst's ability to steer a reaction so that it forms mainly one particular product among several that could otherwise form.
Different catalysts acting on the same reactants can favour different reaction pathways, so the choice of catalyst can determine which product is obtained preferentially. For example, in the reaction of CO and H2: with a Cu/ZnO-Cr2O3 catalyst, methanol (CH3OH) is obtained; with a Ni catalyst, methane (CH4) is obtained; and with different conditions/catalysts a mixture of higher hydrocarbons can result. This property of a catalyst — choosing/directing the reaction to …
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