Talk:Reaction coordinate

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Possible Additional Clarification[edit]

It may be useful to add a sentence or two clarifying that, in the usage listed in the article, a "reaction coordinate" is usually a single or collection of simulatneously varied coordinates that correspond to a path along the hypersurface with the smallest energy barriers. In simpler terminology the reaction coordinate refers to the SINGLE specific path (out of essentially infinitely many paths) that travels from one energy minima (valley), over a saddle point, and into another energy minima. This path corresponds to going from products, over an energy barrier (activation energy) to a product state. In T-State theory, you may also clarify that there will be metastable intermediates along that path, and so MANY different energy minima (with varying "depths") may form part of the overall path from A to B.68.6.76.31 (talk) 01:10, 15 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]