Reaction Kinetics Flashcards
Reaction Kinetics
Study of the rates of chemical reactions, including the factors that affect them and the mechanisms by which the reactions occur
Rate of reaction
- Change in concentration of a particular reactant or product per unit time
- mol dm⁻³ s/min/h⁻¹
- Positive quantity
- Can be obtained from concentration-time graphs
Instantaneous rate
Rate at a particular time → gradient of concentration-time graph
Initial rate
- Instantaneous rate at time t=0
- Can be approximated by average rate provided 1) time interval small enough 2) time interval start from t=0
Average rate
Change in concentration of a reactant/product over that time interval
Rate equation/rate law
- A mathematical expression that relates the rate of reaction to the concentration of each reactant raised to the appropriate power. It shows the exact dependence of the reaction rate on the concentrations of all the reactants
- E.g. rate = k[A][B]
- Can only be obtained by experiment
Rate constant/velocity constant
- The constant of proportionality in the rate equation of the reaction
- E.g. rate ∝ [A] rate = k[A]
- Units depend on overall order of reaction
- Constant for a given reaction at a particular temperature, ↑ with temperature or in presence of catalyst
Order of reaction with respect to a reactant
- The power to which the concentration of that reactant is raised in the rate equation
- Exact dependence of rate on concentration of a given reactant
- Found experimentally
- Can be whole number, fraction, positive or negative
- Can help us to work out the reaction mechanism
Overall order of a reaction
Sum of the powers of the concentration terms in the rate equation
Half-life (t½)
Time taken for the concentration of a reactant to decrease to half its initial value
First-order reaction
- Reaction rate directly proportional to the concentration of a single reactant raised to the power of one
- Rate equation: rate = k[A]
- Units of k: s⁻¹
- t½ is constant at constant temperature, independent of initial concentration → ln2/k
- t½ can be found by plotting [reaction]/[product] against time
Second-order reaction
- Reaction rate proportional to the product of the concentrations of 2 reactants or to the concentration of a single reactant raised to the power of 2
- Rate equation: rate = k[A][B] or k[A]²
- Units of k: mol⁻¹ dm³ s⁻¹
- t½ not constant
Zero-order reaction
- Reaction rate independent of the concentration of the reactant
- Rate equation: rate = k
- Units of k: mol dm⁻³ s⁻¹
- t½ not constant
Pseudo-order reactions (3)
- Presence of large excess of reactant
- Reactant is also the solvent
- Presence of a catalyst
Presence of large excess of reactant
- E.g. rate = k[A][B]
- If initial [A]»_space; initial [B] → [A] will hardly change during reaction relative to the change in [B] → effectively constant
- rate = k’[B], where k’ = k[A]
- Reaction exhibits pseudo-first-order kinetics
- k’ → pseudo-first-order rate constant
Reactant is also the solvent
- E.g. rate = k[A][H₂O], where A (aq)
- As water is used as solvent → concentration remains essentially constant
- rate = k’[A], where k’ = k[H₂O]
Presence of a catalyst
- E.g. rate = k[A][Catalyst]
- Catalyst increases rate of reaction but not consumed by the reaction → regenerated → regarded as essentially constant
- rate = k’[A], where k’ = k[Catalyst] = constant
Finding order of reaction from initial rates data
- Compare initial rates of reactions at different known initial concentrations
- Compare experiments 1 and 2, when initial [X] is the same and initial [Y] x 2, initial rate x 2
- rate ∝ [Y]
- Order of reaction with respect to Y is 1
Finding order of reaction from concentration-time graphs
- From the graph,
- 1st t½ = time taken for [A] to drop from X to 0.5 X = 5 min
- 2nd t½ = time taken for [A] to drop from Y to 0.5 Y = 5 min
- Since t½ is (relatively) constant, the reaction is first order with respect to A
- t½ = ln2/k, k = ln2/t½
Experimental techniques to measure reaction rates
- Method of isolation → continuous measurement
2. Method of initial rates → one reading from each experiment
Method of initial rates
- Physical methods e.g. colorimetry
2. Clock reaction
Clock reaction
- Certain reactions accompanied by prominent visual changes e.g. forming precipitate/obvious change in colour
- Measure time taken for visual change to occur
Reaction between thiosulfate ions and hydrogen ions
- S₂O₃²⁻(aq) + 2H⁺(aq) → S(s) + SO₂(g) + H₂O(l)
- Yellow precipitate of sulphur → suspension
- Time taken for fixed amount of sulphur to form → obscure cross
Why is the volume of water varied in each experiment?
- Keep total volume of reaction mixture constant
- Initial concentration of each reactant is directly proportional to its volume used
What is the relationship between the rate of reaction and the time t taken for the cross to be obscured?
- rate ∝ 1/t
- Inversely proportional since amount of sulfur produced to obscure printed material is kept the same for all the experiments
Reaction between hydrogen peroxide and iodide ions in acidic medium
- Reaction 1: H₂O₂(aq) + 2I⁻(aq) + 2H⁺(aq) → I₂(aq) + 2H₂O(l)
- Reaction 2: 2S₂O₃²⁻(aq) + I₂(aq) → S₄O₆²⁻(aq) + 2I⁻(aq)
- Small but constant constant amount of sodium thiosulfate added to reaction mixture
- Since 2 relatively faster than 1, [I₂] effectively 0 as long as there is still some S₂O₃²⁻
- When S₂O₃²⁻ completely used up, 2 stops but 1 continues → I₂ produced in 1 will be present in solution → starch indicator