Kinetics and thermodynamics are two important ideas that help us understand how chemical reactions work.

Thermodynamics looks at energy changes and whether a reaction can happen. It mainly focuses on values like Gibbs free energy, written as $ΔG$. If $ΔG$ is negative, it means the products are more stable than the starting materials, and the reaction can happen on its own. But, thermodynamics doesn’t tell us how fast the reaction will happen.

Kinetics is all about the speed of a reaction and the steps it goes through. It involves looking at the simplest reactions, called elementary steps, that lead to the final products. Each of these steps has a transition state, which is a temporary, unstable arrangement of atoms while the reaction is happening. The energy needed to reach this transition state is important because it affects how fast the reaction happens.

Catalysts are special substances that help speed up reactions. They create alternative paths for reactions to take place, which lowers the energy needed to reach the transition state. This concept comes from kinetics since catalysts help increase the reaction rate without changing the overall energy changes related to the reaction.

When we study how reactions happen, we need to look at both kinetics and thermodynamics. For example, in a reaction with multiple steps, one step might be favored in terms of energy (thermodynamically) but could be slow because it needs a lot of energy to get past a barrier (kinetically). Understanding this balance helps engineers find the best conditions for reactions, making them faster and more efficient.

In simple terms, to understand how chemical reactions work, we need to think about both thermodynamics and kinetics. Thermodynamics shows us if a reaction can happen, while kinetics tells us how quickly it can happen. Together, they are very important for engineers who design efficient chemical processes.