Posted by Matt on Tuesday, February 19, 2008 at 7:46pm.
One example is the burning of a candle. The wax, which is a hydrocarbon, doesn't burn at room temperature because the reaction to form CO2 and H2O is so slow. But heated up with a match (which overcomes the activation energy), the reaction is exothomeric and produces enough heat to keep the ocmbustion going. Same thing with burning wood in a fireplace. The wood/oxygen reaction is so slow that we store wood on a rack outside or inside near the fireplace. But a match gets things going. Finally, as a third example, the rusting of iron is a slow process but rusting takes place faster at an elevated temperature.
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