Chemistry 2A – Chemical Reactions AssignmentWhat is a catalyst and how does it work?A catalyst is a substance that provides a reaction pathway with a lower activation energy. To understand catalysts and their nature it is necessary to understand “collision theory”. Through the use of collision theory we can understand what is happening at the particle level during chemical reactions. In this theory chemical reactions are described in terms of collisions of single particles. For a reaction to occur the following conditions must be met:1. The individual particles of the reacting substances must collide.2. The collision energy must be equal to or greater than the minimum required amount, known as the activation energy.3. The reacting particles must collide in an appropriate orientation. Therefore, through the application of this theory and the requirements for a reaction to occur, we understand that catalysts cause a greater percentage of collisions to have a collision energy equal to or greater than the activation energy. This results in a higher percentage of successful packages...