# 5.2 Day 5 Prelab


Questio

Questions

1. The thermal decomposition of an organic nitrile produced the following data:

 t / ($$10^3$$s) 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 $$\infty$$ [Nitrile] / (mol $$dm^{-3}$$) 1.1 0.86 0.67 0.52 0.41 0.32 0.25 0

Determine the order of the reaction and the rate constant.

2. Methane is a by-product of a number of natural processes (such as digestion of cellulose in rumi- nant animals, anaerobic decomposition of organic waste matter) and industrial processes (such as food production and fossil fuel use). Reaction with the hydroxyl radical OH is the main path by which CH4 is removed from the lower atmosphere. T. Gierczak, R.K. Talukdar, S.C. Herndon, G.L. Vaghjiani, and A.R. Ravishankara (J. Phys. Chem. A 101, 3125 (1997)) measured the rate constants for the elementary bimolecular gas-phase reaction of methane with the hydroxyl radical over a range of temperatures of importance to atmospheric chemistry. Deduce the Arrhenius parameters A and Ea from the following measurements:

 T/K 295 223 218 213 206 200 195 k / $$(\frac{10^6 dm^3}{mol seconds})$$ 3.55 0.494 0.452 0.379 0.295 0.241 0.217

MIT OpenCourseWare
http://ocw.mit.edu

5.35 / 5.35U Introduction to Experimental Chemistry
Fall 2012