3.5 Chemical Kinetics

Activation Energy

The minimum energy required in a collision for particles to react

Rate of reaction

The change in concentration of a reactant or product per unit time.

Rate of reaction can be measured in two ways:

How fast reactants are being used up

How fast a product is produced

k

Rate constant

Order of reaction

The power to which we have to raise the concentration to fit the rate equation

Overall order of reaction

The sum of all the powers in the rate equation

Graph of rate against concentration for zero order

Horizontal straight line

Graph of rate against concentration for first order

An inclined straight line which passes through the origin

Quenching

The sudden stopping or significant slowing of a chemical reaction allows analysis to occur without the reaction proceeding further.

This is typically achieved by removing the sample from the reaction and immediately placing it into ice water.

Rate determining step

The slowest step in a reaction