Answer
It changes the speed greatly.
Best way to tell it is this: Take two solid powders and mix, well nothing, cause the molecules or atoms only touch each other and the very edge of the crystals, now if you make a solution then pour it together, voila de reaction is even better, same happens when you melt them, the best way though is in gas form. The free molecules, can touch each other at a free surface, they are not connected to other molecules in any way, so it's much easire for them to fly into each other.
There is an equation, that reaction speed equals the concentration of the participants multiplied by k. This k is different in every reaction, and this includes the surface, temperature, pressure, and etc. So the surface is a part of the reaction speed.
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