Activation Energy - Catalysis

Catalysis

A substance that modifies the transition state to lower the activation energy is termed a catalyst; a biological catalyst is termed an enzyme. It is important to note that a catalyst increases the rate of reaction without being consumed by it. In addition, while the catalyst lowers the activation energy, it does not change the energies of the original reactants or products. Rather, the reactant energy and the product energy remain the same and only the activation energy is altered (lowered).