Plz help I’m being timed North Dakota has the highest residential energy consumption, per capita, of any state in the US. New York's consumption is 47th on the list. Given that New York has a larger population, which choice offers one possible explanation for this difference?

it provides an alternative energy pathway for the reaction to proceed.

a catalyst is a substance that speeds up the rate of a chemical reaction but is not consumed during the course of the reaction.

catalysts increase the rate of reaction without being used up. they do this by lowering the activation energy needed. with a catalyst, more collisions result in a reaction, so the rate of reaction increases. different reactions need different catalysts.

a catalyst works by providing an alternative reaction pathway to the reaction product. the rate of the reaction is increased as this alternative route has a lower activation energy than the reaction route not mediated by the catalyst.