Heterogeneous Catalyst

Real World Example

Imagine you're trying to find your keys lost in a cluttered room. Just like a magnet can help you find a metal key among a pile of non-magnetic clutter, a heterogeneous catalyst helps speed up a chemical reaction by being in a different phase than the reactants, thereby making it easier to interact with them. The magnet represents the solid-phase catalyst, while the metal keys represent the reactants in a different phase, such as a gas or liquid, with the magnet's ability to attract and assist in organizing or finding the keys mirroring how the catalyst interacts with reactants to facilitate the reaction.