A catalyst is a substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without being consumed in the reaction. Catalysts work by providing an alternative pathway for the reaction to take place, which has a lower activation energy than the uncatalyzed reaction. This means that more reactant molecules have enough energy to reach the transition state and form products, leading to a faster reaction rate.
However, catalysts do not change the equilibrium position of a reaction. The equilibrium position is determined by the relative concentrations of reactants and products at equilibrium, and is not affected by the presence of a catalyst. This is because the catalyst speeds up both the forward and reverse reactions equally, so the equilibrium concentrations of reactants and products are not changed.
Therefore, adding a catalyst to a mixture will increase the rate at which H2O is produced, but it will not affect the equilibrium concentration of H2O.
