Rate of Reactions
RATE OF REACTIONS.
The reaction rate (rate of reaction) or speed of reaction for a reactant or product in a particular reaction is intuitively defined as how fast or slow a reaction takes place. For example, the oxidative rusting of iron under the atmosphere is a slow reaction that can take many years, but the combustion of cellulose in a fire is a reaction that takes place in fractions of a second (right).
Chemical kinetics is the part of physical chemistry that studies reaction rates. The concepts of chemical kinetics are applied in many disciplines, such as chemical engineering, enzymology and environmental engineering.
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Formal definition of reaction rate
Consider a typical chemical reaction: aA + bB → pP + qQ
The lowercase letters (a, b, p, and q) represent stoichiometric coefficients, while the capital letters represent the reactants (A and B) and the products(P and Q).
According to IUPAC's Gold Book definition[1] the reaction rate r for a chemical reaction occurring in a closed system under isochoric conditions, without a build-up of reaction intermediates, is defined as:
where [X] denotes the concentration of the substance X. (Note: The rate of a reaction is always positive. A negative sign is present to indicate the reactant concentration is decreasing.) The IUPAC[1] recommends that the unit of time should always be the second. In such a case the rate of reaction differs from the rate of increase of concentration of a product P by a constant factor (the reciprocal of its stoichiometric number) and for a reactant A by minus the reciprocal of the stoichiometric number. Reaction rate usually has the units of mol L−1 s−1. It is important to bear in mind that the previous definition is only valid for a single reaction, in a closed system of constant volume. This most usually implicit assumption must be stated explicitly, otherwise the definition is incorrect: If water is added to a pot containing salty
The reaction rate (rate of reaction) or speed of reaction for a reactant or product in a particular reaction is intuitively defined as how fast or slow a reaction takes place. For example, the oxidative rusting of iron under the atmosphere is a slow reaction that can take many years, but the combustion of cellulose in a fire is a reaction that takes place in fractions of a second (right).
Chemical kinetics is the part of physical chemistry that studies reaction rates. The concepts of chemical kinetics are applied in many disciplines, such as chemical engineering, enzymology and environmental engineering.
-------------------------------------------------
Formal definition of reaction rate
Consider a typical chemical reaction: aA + bB → pP + qQ
The lowercase letters (a, b, p, and q) represent stoichiometric coefficients, while the capital letters represent the reactants (A and B) and the products(P and Q).
According to IUPAC's Gold Book definition[1] the reaction rate r for a chemical reaction occurring in a closed system under isochoric conditions, without a build-up of reaction intermediates, is defined as:
where [X] denotes the concentration of the substance X. (Note: The rate of a reaction is always positive. A negative sign is present to indicate the reactant concentration is decreasing.) The IUPAC[1] recommends that the unit of time should always be the second. In such a case the rate of reaction differs from the rate of increase of concentration of a product P by a constant factor (the reciprocal of its stoichiometric number) and for a reactant A by minus the reciprocal of the stoichiometric number. Reaction rate usually has the units of mol L−1 s−1. It is important to bear in mind that the previous definition is only valid for a single reaction, in a closed system of constant volume. This most usually implicit assumption must be stated explicitly, otherwise the definition is incorrect: If water is added to a pot containing salty