Chemical Kinetics
Chemical kinetics studies reaction rates and mechanisms. Learn rate laws, reaction orders, activation energy, catalysis, and how to determine mechanisms from experimental data.
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Study Tips
- ✓Reaction order must be determined experimentally, not from coefficients
- ✓Use method of initial rates to find reaction orders
- ✓For first-order reactions, half-life is independent of concentration
- ✓The rate-determining step is the slowest step in a mechanism
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Students often assume reaction order equals stoichiometric coefficients (it doesn't!), confuse rate law with integrated rate law, forget temperature must be in Kelvin for Arrhenius equation, and misidentify the rate-determining step in mechanisms.
Chemical Kinetics FAQs
Common questions about chemical kinetics
Use the method of initial rates: compare experiments where one reactant concentration changes while others stay constant. If doubling concentration doubles rate, it's first order. If rate quadruples, it's second order. If rate unchanged, it's zero order.
k = Ae^(-Ea/RT), where k is rate constant, A is frequency factor, Ea is activation energy, R is gas constant, and T is temperature in Kelvin. It shows how temperature affects reaction rate through the rate constant.
Zero order: [A] = [A]0 - kt. First order: ln[A] = ln[A]0 - kt. Second order: 1/[A] = 1/[A]0 + kt. Plot concentration data appropriately to get a straight line, which confirms the order.
Related Topics
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