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Chemistry vocabulary · Energy, Reaction Rates and Equilibrium

Catalyst

Meaning in chemistry, with examples

/ˈkætəlɪst/nounCore term

In chemistry, catalyst means: A substance that speeds up a chemical reaction without being used up. It works by offering a different pathway with a lower activation energy.

In Turkish: katalizör

How it is used

Used in synthesis, industry and biochemistry. You add, use, recover or poison a catalyst, and say a reaction is 'catalyzed by' something. Enzymes are biological catalysts; palladium and platinum are common metal ones.

Example sentences

  1. We used 5 mol% of a palladium catalyst for the coupling reaction.

  2. A catalyst is not used up, so you can recover it after the reaction.

Common collocations

  • add a catalyst
  • acid catalyst
  • metal catalyst
  • catalyst loading
  • in the presence of a catalyst
  • activation energyThe minimum energy that reacting particles need to collide successfully and start a reaction. Catalysts work by lowering it.
  • reaction rateHow fast reactants are used up or products are formed, usually measured as a change in concentration per unit time, for example in mol/L per second.
  • chemical reactionA process in which substances change into new substances with different properties, as bonds between atoms break and new bonds form.
  • chemical equilibriumThe state of a reversible reaction in which the forward and reverse reactions run at the same rate, so the amounts of reactants and products stay constant.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Energy, Reaction Rates and Equilibrium

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