Temperature-programmed reduction

Okay kiddo, so have you ever played with a toy that changes colors when you put it under the sun or in the fridge? We can do something similar with some materials that are used in science.

Temperature-programmed reduction is a way to figure out how much of a certain metal is in a material called a catalyst. A catalyst is a special substance that helps speed up a chemical reaction, like a pinch of yeast that helps bread dough rise.

To find out how much metal is in the catalyst, we take a tiny piece of it and put it inside a special oven. This oven can get very hot, like when you bake cookies. But instead of cookies, we are baking the catalyst!

Then we add some gas that can react with the metal in the catalyst. This is like when mom bakes a cake and adds some eggs to react with the sugar and flour.

As the oven heats up, the gas starts to react with the metal in the catalyst. This reaction makes the gas change a little bit, like when you mix some food coloring in water. We can measure these changes using special machines, called spectrometers, to figure out how much metal is in the catalyst.

So, temperature-programmed reduction is like baking the catalyst to see how much metal is inside, and then using special machines to measure it. Just like how you use the sun or a fridge to change the color of your toy!