Advanced Chemistry Practice Problems

Kinetics: Rate of Chemical Reactions

The diagram below depicts the progress of a reaction. Each shape and color represents
a different substance. The three boxes represent the concentrations of each substance
as the indicated time elapses. Refer to the diagram to answer questions 1 – 4.

Time = 0 seconds Time = 15 seconds Time = 30 seconds

1. Select all images that represent reactants. There may be more than one reactant.
a.
b.
c.

2. Which statement is true?

a. The rate of change of substance is twice the magnitude as the rate of
change of substance .
b. The rate of change of substance is equal to the rate of change of substance
.
c. The rate of change of substance is twice the magnitude as the rate of change
of substance .
d. The rate of change of substance is equal in magnitude but opposite in sign to
the rate of change of substance .

3. If each colored image represents 0.10 M of the substance, determine the rate (in
M/s) of change of substance over the first 15 seconds.
 Advanced Chemistry Practice Problems

Kinetics: Comparing Rate of Change for Reactants and

Products
1. Consider the following reaction:

2N2O5(g) → 2N2O4(g) + O2(g)

If, at some point during the reaction, the rate of disappearance of N2O5 is 0.15
M/s, what is the rate of appearance of O2?

2. Consider the following reaction

4NH3(g) + 5O2(g) → 4NO(g) + 6H2O(g)

At some point during the reaction, the rate of appearance of NO is 0.0100 M/s. What is
the rate of disappearance of O2 at this same point in the reaction?
 Advanced Chemistry Practice Problems

Kinetics: The Rate Law

1. The rate law of the reaction

2H2(g) + 2NO(g) → N2(g) + 2H2O(g)

is rate = k[H2][NO]2. Which of the following statements is/are false?

a. The reaction is 3rd order overall.

b. The reaction is 2nd order in H2.
c. The reaction is 2nd order in NO.
d. The reaction is 1st order in H2O.

2. The rate law of the reaction

2H2(g) + 2NO(g) → N2(g) + 2H2O(g)

is rate = k[H2][NO]2. What will be the effect on the rate of the reaction if the
concentrations of both H2 and NO are doubled?
 Advanced Chemistry Practice Problems

Kinetics: Rate of Chemical Reactions

The diagram below depicts the progress of a reaction. Each shape and color represents
a different substance. The three boxes represent the concentrations of each substance
as the indicated time elapses. Refer to the diagram to answer questions 1 – 4.

Time = 0 seconds Time = 15 seconds Time = 30 seconds

1. Question: Select all images that represent reactants. There may be more than one
reactant.
a.
b.
c.

Answer: The amount of reactant will decrease as the reaction progresses. Therefore
answer b is the reactant.
 Advanced Chemistry Practice Problems

2. Question: Which statement is true?

a. The rate of change of substance is twice the magnitude as the rate of
change of substance .
b. The rate of change of substance is equal to the rate of change of substance
.
c. The rate of change of substance is twice the magnitude as the rate of change
of substance .
d. The rate of change of substance is equal in magnitude but opposite in sign to
the rate of change of substance .

Answer: The rate of change is determined by the change in concentration of the

substance divided by the change in time.
Answer a. is true. In the first 15 second time interval twice as much of is formed
than . Therefore [ ]/15 s will be twice as big as [ ]/15 s.

3. Question: If each colored image represents 0.10 M of the substance, determine the
rate (in M/s) of change of substance over the first 15 seconds.

Answer: The rate of change for substance is determined by ( at 15 seconds -

at 0 seconds)/15 seconds.
Remember, each is equal to 0.10 M.
Therefore the rate of change of = (0.4 M – 0.8 M)/15 s = –0.027 M/s
 Advanced Chemistry Practice Problems

Kinetics: Comparing Rate of Change for Reactants and

Products
1. Question: Consider the following reaction:

2N2O5(g) → 2N2O4(g) + O2(g)

If, at some point during the reaction, the rate of disappearance of N2O5 is 0.15
M/s, what is the rate of appearance of O2?

Answer: For the reaction given in the problem:

N2 O 5 N2 O 4 O2
Rate
2 t 2 t t

N2 O 5
The term “rate of disappearance of N2O5” is represented by: . The
t
O2
“rate of formation of O2” is represented by: . Use only the portion of the
t
expression that is required for this problem:

N2 O 5 O2
2 t t

O2
Put in the value given for the rate of disappearance of N2O5. And solve for
t
.

0.15 M O2
0.075 M/s
2s t
 Advanced Chemistry Practice Problems

2. Question: Consider the following reaction

4NH3(g) + 5O2(g) → 4NO(g) + 6H2O(g)

At some point during the reaction, the rate of appearance of NO is 0.0100 M/s. What is
the rate of disappearance of O2 at this same point in the reaction?

Answer: For the reaction given in the problem:

NH 3 O2 NO H2 O
Rate
4 t 5 t 4 t 6 t

NO
The term “rate of appearance for NO” is represented by . The “rate of
t
O2
disappearance of O2 is represented by .
t

Put in the given information for the rate of appearance of NO and solve for
O2
.
t

O2 0.0100 M
5 t 4s

O2 5 0.0100 M 5
5 t 1 4s 1

O2 0.0100 M 5
0.0125 M/s
t 4s
 Advanced Chemistry Practice Problems

Kinetics: The Rate Law

1. Question: The rate law of the reaction

2H2(g) + 2NO(g) → N2(g) + 2H2O(g)

is rate = k[H2][NO]2. Which of the following statements is/are false?

a. The reaction is 3rd order overall.

b. The reaction is 2nd order in H2.
c. The reaction is 2nd order in NO.
d. The reaction is 1st order in H2O.

A n s we r: The power to which the concentration is raised in the rate law

determines the order. Therefore, the reaction is first-order in H2 and 2nd order in
NO. This means that b is false and c is true. The overall order is determined by
adding the two powers together. Since, 1 + 2 = 3, the reaction is third-order,
overall. Also, d is false because products are not included in the rate law.

2 . Question: The rate law of the reaction

2H2(g) + 2NO(g) → N2(g) + 2H2O(g)

is rate = k[H2][NO]2. What will be the effect on the rate of the reaction if the
concentrations of both H2 and NO are doubled?

Answer: One way to determine the effect of concentration changes on the rate is
to do two separate calculations. In the second calculations use twice the
concentration of the two reactants as used in the first calculation. In the example
below, 1 M concentrations were used in the first calculation and 2 M was used for
the second calculation.

Rate = k(1 M)(1 M)2 = 1 M3k Rate = k(2 M) (2 M)2 = 8 M3k

Therefore as the concentrations of each substance are doubled, the rate is

increased by a factor of eight (8).
 Advanced Chemistry Practice Problems

Kinetics: Second-Order Kinetics

1. Question: Consider the data collected for the reaction

A → products

[A], M Time, s
3.50 0
2.42 5
1.69 12
1.26 20
1.15 23

Determine the order of the reaction.

Answer: As with first problem found in module 5 (First-Order Kinetics and the
integrated Rate Law) practice problems, a plot of ln A v. t can be produced. If
linear, it is first-order.

natural log [A] versus time

1.4
1.2
1
0.8
ln [A]

0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Time (s)

This plot is curved, not linear. It is not first-order.

Now, produce a plot of 1/[A] v. t.

 Advanced Chemistry Practice Problems

1/[A] versus time

1
0.9
0.8
0.7
1/[A] (1/M)

0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Time (s)

This plot is linear. The reaction is second-order.

 Advanced Chemistry Practice Problems

2. Question: A second-order reaction has a rate constant of 2.50 × 10–3 M–1s–1. The
reaction starts with a concentration of reactant of 1.25 M. What is the
concentration of the reactant after 40 seconds?

Answer: The reaction in this problem is second-order. The second-order

integrated rate law is given as:

1 1
kt
At A0

To determine [A]t, plug in the values for k, t and the initial concentration, [A]0.

1 3 1 1
2.50 10 ( 40 s)
At Ms 1.25 M

1 1
0.900
[A ] t M

1
[ A ]t 1.11 M
0.900 1/M
 Advanced Chemistry Practice Problems

Kinetics: Collision Theory

1. Question: Which one of the following statements is false concerning collision
theory of chemical kinetics?
a. Molecules collide in order to react. As the concentration increases, the
number of collisions per second increases, therefore the rate of
reaction increases.
b. Every collision between the correct molecules will result in a reaction.
c. As temperature increases, the reaction rate increases. This is because
more molecules have enough kinetic energy to overcome the
activation energy barrier.
d. In comparing two first-order reactions with different activation energies
but the same initial concentrations, the reaction with the greater
activation energy will have a slower rate of reaction.

Answer: Statement b. is false. Only collisions with enough kinetic energy to

overcome the activation energy will result in a reaction.
 Advanced Chemistry Practice Problems

2. Question: Consider the following diagram and select the true statement.

Potential Energy

X
Products

Reactants Y

Reaction Progress

a. The variable X represents activation energy and can be positive or

negative, depending upon the reaction.
b. The variable Y represents activation energy and can be positive or
negative, depending upon the reaction.
c. The variable X represents activation energy and is always a positive
value.

The variable Y represents activation energy and is positive only for

endothermic reactions.

Answer: The arrow marked with the “X”, represents the activation energy. It is
always a positive value.

The arrow marked with the “Y”, represents the enthalpy change. In this
diagram, the value is positive (an endothermic reaction). However, for many
reaction, the enthalpy change is negative and the products will have lower
energy than the reactants.