British spelling: to trigger or speed up a chemical reaction by providing a substance that enables the reaction but isn't itself consumed; or figuratively, to cause something to happen.
From French 'catalyse' and German 'Katalyse,' ultimately from Greek 'katalysis' (dissolution, loosening). German chemists created this term in the 1800s to describe speeding up reactions.
Without catalysts, bread wouldn't rise, your cells couldn't generate energy, and the industrial revolution wouldn't have happened—catalysts are literally the chemical superheroes of reactions!
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