ACTIVATION ENERGY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does activation energy mean? 

• ACTIVATION ENERGY (noun)
  The noun ACTIVATION ENERGY has 1 sense:

1. the energy that an atomic system must acquire before a process (such as an emission or reaction) can occur

  Familiarity information: ACTIVATION ENERGY used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ACTIVATION ENERGY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The energy that an atomic system must acquire before a process (such as an emission or reaction) can occur

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Synonyms:

activation energy; energy of activation

Context example:

catalysts are said to reduce the energy of activation during the transition phase of a reaction

Hypernyms ("activation energy" is a kind of...):

energy; free energy ((physics) a thermodynamic quantity equivalent to the capacity of a physical system to do work; the units of energy are joules or ergs)