Heterogeneous reaction, any of a class of chemical reactions in which the reactants are components of two or more phases (solid and gas, solid and liquid, two immiscible liquids) or in which one or more reactants undergo chemical change at an interface, e.g., on the surface of a solid catalyst. The reaction of metals with acids, the electrochemical changes that occur in batteries and electrolytic cells, and the phenomena of corrosion are part of the subject of heterogeneous reactions. By far the majority of the researches on heterogeneous reactions are devoted to heterogeneous catalysis (e.g., the reactions between gases or liquids accelerated by solids). Heterogeneous reactions are of considerable practical interest; they are not, however, understood as well as those reactions that occur in only one phase (homogeneous reactions). Compare homogeneous reaction.
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