Kinetics Flashcards
What is the rate of a chemical reaction normally dependent on?
The concentration of reactants.
What is used to relate the rate of a reaction to the reaction species?
Orders of reaction
If changing the concentration of a reactant A has no effect on the rate of reaction.
What order is the reaction in respect to A?
Zero order
If doubling the concentration of reactant A doubles the rate of the reaction.
What order is the reaction in respect to A?
First order
How would you express the order rate of a first order reaction?
rate = k [A]
(Where k is the rate constant and [A] is the concentration of reactant A)
If you double the concentration of a reactant A increases the rate fourfold. What is the order of reaction in respect to A?
The reaction is second order.
How can you express that a reactant is second order?
rate = k [A] ²
What is the order of a reaction with respect to any one reactant?
The power to which the concentration of that reactant is raised in the rate equation.
How do you find the overall order of a reaction?
The sum of the powers to which the concentrations of the reactants are raised in the rate equation.
How can you determine the order of a reaction?
ONLY from experimental data
What can you determine from the initial rate data for a series of reactions in which the initial concentrations of reaction are varies?
The rate equation and rate constant
What is a reaction mechanism?
A series of steps that occur when reactions take place.
What is the ‘rate determining step’ ?
The slowest step which determines the rate of reaction.
What can experimentally determined rate equations be used to determine?
The possible reaction mechanisms.
