Chemistry
is about transformations between
compounds as the result of forming and
breaking
bonds between their atoms. A detailed knowledge
of these
processes should open the door to one of the
most desired goals in this
field, which is the control of the
rate constants that govern the time
dependence of the
concentrations of reactants and products. Changes in
the
concentration and preparation of the reactants, the nature
of the
solvents and external conditions (such as pressure
and temperature) can
be employed to speed up or slow
down a chemical reaction. One of the
major breakthroughs in the field of
chemical kinetics
was
achieved when it was recognized that certain substances,
the catalysts
, were able to accelerate
chemical reactions without being consumed during the process
