Which of the following statements about catalyst is false?

Answer Details

The false statement about catalysts is: "catalysts do not alter the mechanism of the reaction and never appear in the rate law." Catalysts are substances that speed up chemical reactions without being consumed in the process. They achieve this by reducing the activation energy needed for the reaction to occur. Enzymes are a type of biological catalysts. In a chemical reaction, a catalyst is not consumed and does not appear in the overall balanced equation. However, catalysts can alter the mechanism of a reaction by providing an alternative pathway with a lower activation energy. This alternative pathway can have a different rate-determining step, which means that the presence of the catalyst can change the rate law of the reaction. Therefore, the statement that catalysts do not alter the mechanism of the reaction and never appear in the rate law is false.