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A chemistry student is required to calculate the activation energy of a chemical reaction. Given the rate constant of a reaction at two different temperatures, what is the activation energy?

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To calculate the activation energy  Ea  of a chemical reaction, we can use the Arrhenius equation:k = A * exp -Ea / R * T where k is the rate constant, A is the pre-exponential factor, Ea is the activation energy, R is the gas constant  8.314 J/molK , and T is the temperature in Kelvin.Since we have the rate constants at two different temperatures, we can set up two equations:k1 = A * exp -Ea / R * T1 k2 = A * exp -Ea / R * T2 Now, we can divide the first equation by the second equation:k1 / k2 = exp -Ea / R * T1  / exp -Ea / R * T2 Simplify the equation by combining the exponential terms:k1 / k2 = exp  Ea / R  *  1/T2 - 1/T1  Now, take the natural logarithm of both sides:ln k1 / k2  =  Ea / R  *  1/T2 - 1/T1 Finally, solve for Ea:Ea = R * ln k1 / k2  /  1/T2 - 1/T1 Plug in the values of k1, k2, T1, and T2 to calculate the activation energy.

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