A favorable reaction may take a long time to proceed unless influenced by which factor?

A favorable reaction, even if its overall change in free energy is negative, may still have a high activation energy barrier that must be overcome for reactants to be converted into products. This is where the presence of a catalyst plays a crucial role. Catalysts speed up reactions by providing an alternate reaction pathway with a lower activation energy barrier.

By lowering the activation energy, catalysts allow the reaction to reach the transition state more readily, thus increasing the reaction rate without being consumed in the process. This means that even for thermodynamically favorable reactions, the catalyst is essential in making those reactions occur at a significantly faster rate under practical conditions.

While other factors like temperature and transition state may influence reaction rates, they do not specifically address the fundamental need for the reaction to proceed quickly. Increased temperature can provide sufficient energy for the reactants to overcome the activation barrier, but it does not lower the barrier itself. The formation of a transition state is a necessary step in any reaction mechanism, but it does not inherently influence the speed of the reaction unless facilitated by a catalyst. The presence of an intermediate compound may occur in some reactions, but it is not a general requirement for all reactions to progress more quickly. Hence, the role of a catalyst is pivotal in