Eyring equation

The Eyring equation relates a chemical reaction’s rate constant to temperature and its activation enthalpy and entropy, treating reaction progress through a transition state.

Transition-state theory: A theory that estimates reaction rates by treating reactants as passing through a high-energy transition state. The equation is the rate expression derived from this theory.
Rate constant: A proportionality constant relating a chemical reaction’s rate to reactant concentrations. The Eyring equation predicts this kinetic quantity.
Eyring plot: A plot of transformed rate-constant data against reciprocal temperature used to estimate activation parameters. Its slope and intercept yield activation enthalpy and entropy from rate measurements.
Variational transition-state theory: A refinement of transition-state theory that selects a dividing surface to minimize the predicted rate. It addresses cases where a fixed transition-state dividing surface overestimates rates.
Activation enthalpy: The enthalpy difference between reactants and the transition state. It sets the temperature-dependent energetic contribution to the rate.
Gibbs free energy of activation: The Gibbs free-energy difference between reactants and the transition state. It combines activation enthalpy and entropy into the barrier controlling the rate.
Chemical kinetics: The study of reaction rates and the mechanisms and conditions that determine them. The equation turns kinetic measurements into thermodynamic activation parameters.
RRKM theory: A statistical theory describing unimolecular reaction rates through the density of molecular states. It treats energy-resolved unimolecular dynamics beyond the basic thermal rate expression.
Activation entropy: The entropy difference between reactants and the transition state. It captures how transition-state organization affects the reaction rate.
Arrhenius equation: An empirical equation relating a reaction rate constant to temperature through an activation energy. Its activation energy form is often compared with Eyring’s enthalpy-and-entropy description.

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