2: Chemical Kinetics
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- 2.1: Kinetic Rate Laws
- Kinetics deals with the rates of chemical processes i.e. how rapidly is a reactant consumed and a product formed? In this chapter, we will first define the reaction rate as the instantaneous change in concentration with respect to the time. Often we are interested in how the reaction rate depends on the concentrations of the species involved. This depends on the order of the reaction and leads to the various differential rate laws. On the other hand, if we are interested in how the concentration
- 2.2: Reaction Mechanisms
- In Chapter II.1 Kinetic Rate Laws we calculated the integrated rate law for zero, first, and second order reactions. The rate law must be determined from experiment and is consistent with an underlying mechanism. In this chapter we will consider schemes for different reaction mechanisms involving one or more elementary steps. We will consider reaction schemes for reversible reactions, parallel reactions, and sequential reactions. These type of reaction schemes are the building blocks for buildin
- 2.3: Transition State Theory
- Thus far we have not considered the temperature dependence of the rate. Temperature affects a reaction rate because the rate ???constant??? k k that enters into the rate equation is temperature dependent. Typically, the rate of a reaction will increase with temperature because a higher kinetic energy leads to more molecular collisions with sufficient orientation and energy. However, for enzyme-catalyzed reactions, a higher temperature can lead to a decrease in the rate as the enzyme denatures at