- Collision Model: the energy (for breaking bonds of reactants) comes from the kinetic energies possessed by the reacting molecules before the collision
○ Key idea: the rate of a reaction depends on the number of successful collisions and these collisions provide the energy for molecules to react and form products
- In order for a reaction to occur and products to be made
○ Reactant molecules must collide
○ Must collide with enough energy
○ Must make contact at correct molecular orientation that allow the bonds to rearrange in the required manner
■ Collision orientation is important for molecules, but not for atoms
- Only a small fraction of collisions produce a reaction bcuz…
○ The collision energy must equal or exceed the activation energy
○ Reactants must collide at a correct molecular orientation
■ Is why the observed rate of reaction is less than the number of collisions that have the minimum energy