All Flashcards
What are the steps to experimentally determine rate laws?
- Run multiple experiments with varying reactant concentrations. 2. Measure the initial rates for each experiment. 3. Compare how the rate changes as you change the concentration of each reactant, keeping others constant.
What is the definition of a rate law?
An equation that shows how the rate of a chemical reaction depends on the concentrations of the reactants.
Define the rate constant (k).
A proportionality constant that relates the rate of a reaction to the concentrations of reactants; it is temperature-dependent.
What is reaction order?
Tells us how the rate changes when we change the concentration of a reactant; it is the exponent in the rate law equation.
Define overall reaction order.
The sum of all the individual reactant orders in the rate law.
What is the general form of a rate law?
R = k[A]^n[B]^m...
What is the difference between reaction order and stoichiometric coefficients?
Reaction order: Determined experimentally, indicates how the rate changes with concentration. | Stoichiometric coefficients: From the balanced equation, do NOT directly determine reaction order.