The measurement of meaningful activation energies

The uncertainty surrounding the significance of the measured kinetic parameters of solid state decomposition reactions is discussed briefly. Some suggestions are made about what precautions should be taken in order to favour the measurement of undistorted results. Some criteria are proposed for deciding whether a measuredE value can be considered to have its usual meaning. The results of a series of experiments aimed at measuring the activation energy of the decomposition of calcium carbonate using a variety of methods, sample sizes and experimental conditions are presented. These results are compared with results found in the literature and it is concluded that it is possible to measure a reproducible value forE and it is tentatively proposed that this value is meaningful in terms of the energy barrier model of chemical reaction kinetics.