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Arrhenius Plot

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Encyclopedia of Astrobiology

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Definition

In 1889, the Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius showed that the rate of a chemical reaction as a function of temperature could be described by the equation

$$ \ln \kern0.5em k= \ln \kern0.5em A-{E}_a/RT $$

where k is the reaction rate, R is the universal gas constant, E a is the activation energy (the energy required in order for the reactants to react), T is the absolute temperature (K), and A is the so-called pre-exponential factor (associated with collision and transition state theory).

A plot of ln k versus 1/T often yields a straight line, the slope of which is equal to the activation energy of the reaction divided by the universal gas constant (E a/R) and the y-intercept of which is equal to ln A.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Jeffrey Bada

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  1. Jeffrey Bada
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Correspondence to Jeffrey Bada .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Biología Molecular, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Ricardo Amils

  2. Labo. d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux (LAB), Observatoire Aquitain des Sciences de l'Univers (OASU), Floirac CX, France

    Muriel Gargaud

  3. Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), Inst. Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial, Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid, Spain

    José Cernicharo Quintanilla

  4. Geophysical Lab., Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, District of Columbia, USA

    Henderson James Cleaves

  5. Astronomy Department, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA

    William M. Irvine

  6. Dépt. Sc. de la Terre et de l’Atmosphère, Université du Québec, Montréal, Montreal, Québec, Canada

    Daniele Pinti

  7. Centre National d'Etudes Spatiale (CNES) DPI/E2U, Paris CX, France

    Michel Viso

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© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Bada, J. (2014). Arrhenius Plot. In: Amils, R., et al. Encyclopedia of Astrobiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_108-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_108-2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27833-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Physics and AstronomyReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics

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