8) Introduction to chemical reaction kinetics

Question 1

How are chemical reactions modeled when molecular numbers are large, and what does the law of mass action state

Answer 1

When molecular numbers are sufficiently large, chemical reactions such as these are usually modelled with the law of mass action.
This staes the rate at which a reaction proceeds is proportional to the product of the concentrations of the reactants

Question 2

What is the quasi-steady-state approximation (QSSA)

Answer 2

The QSSA assumes that substrate concentration is much larger than enzyme concentration, leading to approximate equilibrium in complex formation and breakdown.
This simplifies the system by setting dt/dc ≈ 0

Question 3

What is the stoichiometric matrix, and how is it constructed

Answer 3

The stoichiometric matrix (N) describes how species are consumed and produced in chemical reactions
Each column of N corresponds to a reaction, and each row corresponds to a species