03.04 Chemical Reactions

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Welcome to our overview of chemical reactions.

So the real beauty of chemistry is that it is what is driving life! Everything that is done by living things is due to chemistry. Life is chemistry, not biology. SO if you are watching this and you are in the medical field it is so important for you to understand chemistry since it is the basis for how life functions.



A Chemical Reaction by definition is a process in which one or more substances, “the reactants”, are converted to one or more different substances, “the products”.  So chemical reactions change up the matter and the reactants become products through that chemistry. Nothing created or destroyed just changed up the matter. And you can see here 2 very important matter changing processes in life. photosynthesis and cellular respiration.


Factors that affect chemical reactions include temperature. Hot temps speed up chemical reactions as matter moves faster and increases collisions (at least up to the point of denaturation). Cold temps decrease collisions and therefore chemical reactions slow down. An increased amount of surface area can increase the number of chemical reactions as there is more area for chemical reactions to take place on. Catalysts like enzymes speed up chemical reactions by reducing the amount of energy needed to activate the reaction.  And lastly, the amount or concentration of reactants and enzymes can increase the rate of reaction as the concentration increases up to a certain point.



There are 5 main types of chemical reactions.  A synthesis reaction is going to combine reactants. much like how water can be made by combining hydrogen and oxygen. A decomposition reaction is going to break down a reactant into two or more different products such as the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide into oxygen and water. Combustion is a type of reaction that usually burns an organic compound and the products are always carbon dioxide and water. A single replacement recombines one part of a reactant with another and a double replacement swaps out parts of both reactants.


In review, chemical reactions are necessary for matter to be changed. Temperature, surface area, catalysts, and concentration are all important factors that impact the rate of chemical reactions. And we can list  5 main types of chemical reactions, synthesis, decomposition, combustion single and double replacement. 



This concludes our review of chemical reactions. Now go out and be your best self today and happy nursing!




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