What are everyday examples of temperature effects on reaction rate?

Could you give me an example in our daily life which shows that reaction rate is depending on temperature and concentration?
Katherine (sevenmagic@usa.net)

Here are just a few everyday demonstrations that temperature changes the rate of chemical reaction:
  • Cookies bake faster at higher temperatures.
  • Bread dough rises more quickly in a warm place than in a cool one.
  • Low body temperatures slow down metabolism. In fact, warm-blooded animals regulate body temperature so that their biochemical reactions run at the correct rate.
  • Lightsticks produce light via a chemical reaction. Dropping a lightstick into hot water makes it glow more intensely, demonstrating that the reaction runs faster at higher temperature.
Increasing the concentration of reactants also changes reaction rate:
  • Two antacid tablets will neutralize a given amount of acid faster than one tablet will.
  • Higher concentrations of acid in rain erode marble faster than lower concentrations.

Author: Fred Senese senese@antoine.frostburg.edu



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