the.com/catalyst
the troublemaker that changes everything yet walks away unchanged, smug and untouched.
means A person, thing, or substance that speeds up or triggers a change or reaction without being consumed or altered by it.
from Coined by chemists in the early 20th century from 'catalysis,' which Swedish chemist Berzelius lifted from Greek in the 1830s: 'kata-' (down, or thoroughly) plus 'lysis' (a loosening, dissolving) — the same 'lysis' that haunts words like 'analysis' and 'paralysis.' Literally a 'loosening-down,' the chemical that unknots a reaction and slips free. The figurative sense — the person who sets things off — followed once the lab word escaped into everyday speech.
- never consumed
- emerges from reactions exactly as it entered
- speed demon
- some boost reactions trillions of times faster
- inside you
- enzymes catalyze nearly every biochemical reaction you run
- car cleaner
- catalytic converters strip toxins from exhaust
- platinum power
- precious metals make industry's best catalysts
haber-bosch process — iron catalyst enabled synthetic ammonia production, now feeds 4 billion people
zeolite catalysts — aluminosilicate structure used in 90% of petroleum refineries worldwide