Does a catalyst affect the value of the equilibrium constant?

Solution: Here, we are going to discuss the effect of a catalyst on the value of equilibrium constant.

Step1:

Catalysts are the substances which alters the rate of a chemical reaction without itself being used up.

It increases the rate of the chemical reaction by making available a new low energy pathway for the conversion of reactants to products. It increases the rate of forward and reverse reactions that pass through the same transition state and does not affect equilibrium.

It lowers the activation energy for the forward and reverse reactions by exactly the same amount and thus does not affect the value of the equilibrium constant.

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