A view on the break in the Arrhenius plots

Abstract

An attempt is made to find a mathematically reasonable reason why the break in the Arrhenius plots occurs at some temperature. The findings were as follows. There exists an expression which is exactly the same in form as the Arrhenius equation, though both the factor corresponding to the apparent activation energy and the factor corresponding to the frequency factor depend on temperature. The Arrhenius plots of the data with use of this expression give a decreasing curve instead of a straight line with negative slope. This difference in the Arrhenius plots is considered largely as being the cause leading to the “false break” in the Arrhenius plots. Contrary to this, the “true break” in the Arrhenius plots is observed, when the linear Arrhenius plots are suddenly broken by the curved plots for some reason or other. In this case, the break in the Arrhenius plots appears as a sharp and passing decline in the apparent activation energy, and its occurence is found at or about the isokinetic temperature. The existence of the expression in question was verified by a statistical test for the experimental data.