Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 8, 2026

Hot Biological Catalysis: Isothermal Titration Calorimetry to Characterize Enzymatic Reactions
Published on: April 4, 2014
Atomic and macroscopic reaction rates of a surface-catalyzed reaction
Wintterlin1, Volkening, Janssens
1Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Faradayweg 4-6, D-14195 Berlin, Germany.
Abstract:
The catalytic oxidation of carbon monoxide (CO) on a platinum (111) surface was studied by scanning tunneling microscopy. The adsorbed oxygen atoms and CO molecules were imaged with atomic resolution, and their reactions to carbon dioxide (CO2) were monitored as functions of time. The results allowed the formulation of a rate law that takes the distribution of the reactants in separate domains into account. From temperature-dependent measurements, the kinetic parameters were obtained. Their values agree well with data from macroscopic measurements. In this way, a kinetic description of a chemical reaction was achieved that is based solely on the statistics of the underlying atomic processes.
Related Concept Videos
Reaction Rate
The mathematical representation of the change in the concentration of reactants and products, over time, is the rate...
Measuring Reaction Rates
Catalysis
Factors Influencing the Rate of Chemical Reactions
Concentration and Pressure:
The more particles present within a given space, the more likely those particles are to bump into one another.
Catalysis
Heterogeneous Catalysis

