Relationship between activation energy and bond enthalpy

[GeneralOJB]

I'm doing A level Chemistry, and my teacher isn't good at explaining things. I know activation energy is the minimum energy required for a reaction to take place - so is that just the energy required to break the original bonds? And is the activation energy for a particular bond to form the same as the bond enthalpy (to break the bond)?

 

[Borek]

Have you checked the wikipedia article on the activation energy? I think it addresses both your questions.