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Catalysis

Science
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

The acceleration of a chemical reaction by a substance that is not consumed in the process.

Detailed Definition
Catalysis is useful in poetry for naming the small force that makes larger change possible. A catalyst may remain unchanged while enabling other substances to react, making it an apt image for a teacher, encounter, sentence, or act of witness. Poets can use the term to resist simple ideas of causation: transformation may depend on a presence that does not claim credit. It also suggests that change can be sudden after a long period of readiness.
Example
Example in poetry:
“A catalyst speeds a reaction without being consumed” gives a poet a useful model for influence; A poem might call a letter “the catalyst that changed their quiet marriage into speech”; “She was no cause, only a catalyst” can distinguish an initiating force from the deeper conditions already present; In a political poem, “One photograph became a catalyst for the crowd” shows how art or witness can accelerate action
Additional Notes
Catalysis speeds a reaction without using up the catalyst; enzymes are biological catalysts essential to living systems.
Also Known As
Catalytic Action
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