Many molecular processes of great importance in both nature and technology speed up strongly if temperature is increased. Examples include chemical reactions, biomolecular rearrangements, the diffusion of atoms in solids, and the storage of information on magnetic recording media. In 1889, the Swedish physicist and chemist Svante Arrhenius was the first to give a physical explanation and mathematical description of this phenomenon in the form of the celebrated Arrhenius equation (1). Building on earlier work of the Dutch physical chemist Jacobus Henricus van ’t Hoff, Arrhenius had realized that the particular form of the temperature dependence of reaction rate constants can be understood by assuming that the reaction from reactants to products involves passage through an activated state. As this activated state has a higher energy than the reactants, the reaction must cross an energy barrier and this happens only with assistance from thermal fluctuations of the environment. At higher temperatures, such fluctuations are more intense on average, making it easier for the system to overcome the barrier such that the reaction occurs with higher frequency. At low temperatures, on the other hand, thermal fluctuations of sufficient magnitude become rarer, leading to small reaction rate constants.

中文翻译：

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通过设置障碍来加强运输。

如果温度升高，许多在自然和技术上都非常重要的分子过程将大大加速。例子包括化学反应，生物分子重排，原子在固体中的扩散以及信息在磁记录介质上的存储。1889年，瑞典物理学家和化学家Svante Arrhenius率先以著名的Arrhenius方程形式对这种现象进行了物理解释和数学描述（1）。在荷兰物理化学家Jacobus Henricus van't Hoff的早期工作的基础上，Arrhenius认识到，通过假设反应物到产物的反应涉及通过活化态，可以理解反应速率常数与温度有关的特定形式。由于该活化态具有比反应物更高的能量，因此反应必须越过能垒，并且这仅在环境热波动的帮助下发生。在较高的温度下，这种波动平均而言更加强烈，从而使系统更容易克服障碍，从而使反应以更高的频率发生。另一方面，在低温下，足够大的热波动变得罕见，导致小的反应速率常数。