CHAPTER

SLOW and
FAST
REACTIONS
GENERAL CHEMISTRY 2

ELISA FATIMA Y. GARIN

Subject Teacher
CHEMICAL KINETICS

• also known as reaction kinetics, is the branch of physical chemistry that is

concerned with understanding the rates of chemical reactions.
• In simpler terms, chemical kinetics answers questions like: How fast does a
reaction happen? What factors influence the speed of a chemical change?
It’s like the clock that measures how quickly reactions proceed, while
thermodynamics tells us which way they go.
CONCEPT
IN A BOX
Lesson 4.1: RATE OF REACTION

change in the concentration of a reactant or product per change in time.

𝑎𝐴 +𝑏𝐵 →𝑐𝐶 + ⅆ 𝐷
The rate of reaction can be expressed as

rate = - = - = =
2 N2O5 (g) → 4NO2 (g) + O2 (g)

Consider the balanced equation for the decomposition of the colorless gas dinitrogen pentoxide (N 2 O5 )
Into brown nitrogen dioxide gas and oxygen gas. The rate of this reaction maybe expressed in terms of
the change in the concentration of N 2 O5 ,NO2 , or O2 as

Rate = -
COLLISION THEORY
• Rate of Reaction: According to the collision theory, the rate
at which a chemical reaction proceeds is proportional to
the frequency of effective collisions. However, this theory
is primarily applicable to gas-phase reactions because
atomic or molecular collision frequencies can be accurately
calculated using the kinetic theory.
Activation Energy
is the minimum amount of energy that reactants need to
collide and form products. Activation energy is inversely
proportional to the reaction rate. The higher the
activation energy, the slower the reaction, because fewer
reactants have enough energy to overcome the energy
barrier. The lower the activation energy, the faster the
reaction, because more reactants have the required
energy.
Lesson 4.2 Rate Law for a Reaction
• The rate law is a mathematical expression that shows how the rate of
reaction depends on the concentration of the reactants. Consider a
simple hypothetical reaction involving only one .

A → Products
The rate of law for this reaction is expressed as
rate = k [A] x
• where k is the rate of constant , and the power x is the
order of reaction with respect to reactant A. The rate of a
reaction is expressed in molar per second ( M/s ). The unit of
the rate constant varies depending on the rate law
expression.
• The order of the reaction dictates how the rate responds to
variations in the concentration of the reactant.
ORDER OF A REACTION
• zero-order reaction (x=0)
rate = k [A]0= k • has a constant rate that is equal to its rate constant regardless
of changes in the concentration of the reactant.

• first-order reaction (x=1)

rate = k [A] = k[A]
1 1
• rate doubles when the concentration of reactant is doubled.

• second-order reaction
rate = k [A]2 • increasing the reactant concentration to twice as much
quadruples the original reaction rate
Determining the Order of a Reaction:
METHODS OF INITIAL RATES
• The rate law for a reaction can be experimentally determined
through the method of initial rates. The technique determines
how the rate is affected by concentration by comparing the initial
rates of a reaction at different initial concentrations of reactants.
To illustrate this, consider the hypothetical reaction.
A + B → C.
Obtained from three separate experiments, the following data table
shows the initial concentrations of reactants A and B and their
reaction rates.
To determine the order of the reaction (x) with respect to the reactant A, one
must choose two experiments wherein the concentrations of reactant B are the
same. This underscores the principle that the initial rate of the reaction will not
be affected by reactant B and will change only with respect to reactant A. In the
given example, experiments I and II are the suitable choices. As observed, the
initial rate increased two times as the concentration of A was doubled. As
explained, earlier, this type of relationship indicates a first-order reaction with
respect to reactant A.
Mathematically, the order can be determined using two rate laws:
𝑥 𝑦
𝑟𝑎𝑡 𝑒 2 𝑘 [ 𝐴 ] [ 𝐵 ]
2 2
= 𝑥 𝑦
𝑟𝑎𝑡 𝑒 1 𝑘 [ 𝐴 ] [ 𝐵 ]
1 1

𝑥
Since reactant B should have the same concentration, the
equation summarizes into

[ ]
❑ 𝑥
[𝐴]𝐼 𝐼
Applying the equation for the reactant A in experiments I and II,
[ 𝐴 ]𝐼
 = X

2=2x
X = 1 ( first order reaction with respect to A )
The same method is applied to determine the order with respect to
reactant B. In the experiments I and III, the initial concentrations of reactant A
are the same thus will not contribute to the change in the initial reaction rate.
From the data, the initial rate increased four times s the concentration of
reactant B was doubled. Setting up the ratio of the two rate equations and
solving for x,

=
 4 = 2x
X = 2 ( second-order reaction with respect to B)
The rate law for the hypothetical reaction
A+B→C
is written therefore as
rate = k [A] [B]2 .
Note that the reaction is third-order overall. The rate constant (k) can be calculated from the rate law of any
of the experiment runs. Using experiment I, k is calculated as

rate = k [A]I [B]12

k=
-4 2
How do zero-, first-, and second-order reactions
differ in terms of the relationship between
concentration and rate?
A zero-order reaction proceeds at a constant rate. A first-
order reaction rate depends on the concentration of one of
the reactants. A second-order reaction rate is proportional to
the square of the concentration of a reactant or the product
of the concentration of two reactants.
 Group Activity : Group yourselves into 4. Answer the
activity below.
Lesson 4.3 : Integrated Rate Law

Integrated rate laws are mathematical equations that represent

the concentration of a reactant as a function of time. They are
derived from the differential rate laws that describe the rate of a
reaction as a function of the concentration of the reactants.
Chemists use integrated rate laws to model reactions or systems
of reactions and to determine the rate constants of those
reactions
Zero – Order Reactions
A zero-order reaction is a chemical reaction in which the rate of reaction is
independent of the concentration of the reactants. The rate of a zero-order
reaction is always equal to the rate constant of the reaction, which is a
constant value. This means that the reaction proceeds at a constant rate
regardless of how much reactant is present. Hence, the graph of the
concentration versus time gives a linear relationship where [A]0 is the initial
concentration of the reactant and [A] is the concentration at any time t.
 rate = k [A]0 = k

A = - kt + [A]0

The concentration of the reactant at any given time of the reaction can be
obtained using the equation. Moreover, the time it takes to consume a
given amount of a reactant can also be determined.

The half-life (t 1/2) of a reaction is the time it takes for an initial amount of a
reactant to be reduced to half. For a zero-order reaction, it is given by
 t ½=
As shown, the half-life depends on the initial concentration and the rate constant of a zero-order
reaction.
First-Order Reaction
The integrated rate law for the first-order reaction gives the linear equation.

A → Products

ln [A ]= - kt + ln [A]0

The equation for the half-life of the first-order reaction can be deri