CHEMISTRY COMMUNITY

Does adding a catalyst increase or decrease the rate constant? Does increasing the temperature always increase the rate constant? Why does temperature and catalysts increase/decrease the rate constant?

Adding a catalyst should increase the rate constant, but according to the Arrhenius equation, decreasing the activation energy should increase k. Using similar logic, increasing temperature increases k according to the equation. Thus, the rate of the reaction should increase.

I was wondering this too, thanks for the help!

A reaction without a catalyst would have a smaller rate constant for sure but with a catalyst it’s important to distinguish that this new reaction takes an entirely different path. Furthermore, yes temperature increase does increase K.