The Student Room Group

chemistry rate of reaction expressions

I apologise in advance, but this is all new to me, so my terminology might be incorrect. See the attached.

Screenshot 2024-10-21 162113.png


In the second-rate expression, the second reactant differs from the other two; is this a typo? Should it be [no]^2, or is this generally okay? I am sure that the reactants should remain the same, and only one variable may be manipulated at a time, like the concentration of said reactant, not the actual reactant.

Or is the second expression a different experiment altogether? and I am confusing this with the rate of reaction data tables.

Reply 1

Original post
by KingRich
I apologise in advance, but this is all new to me, so my terminology might be incorrect. See the attached.Screenshot 2024-10-21 162113.png
In the second-rate expression, the second reactant differs from the other two; is this a typo? Should it be [no]^2, or is this generally okay? I am sure that the reactants should remain the same, and only one variable may be manipulated at a time, like the concentration of said reactant, not the actual reactant.

Or is the second expression a different experiment altogether? and I am confusing this with the rate of reaction data tables.

In mechanisms involving NO, it’s quite common to see [NO]^2 in the rate law, since it tends to rapidly dimerise and the reaction of this dimer with something else is usually a slow step in the mechanism.

I usually wouldn’t expect a rate law to involve other concentrations squared as it’s quite uncommon for reactions to be possible if they depend on elementary steps that are not either unimolecular (involve a single molecule) or bimolecular (involve two molecules colliding). Of course, there are cases where an intermediate is formed previously from 2+ equivalents of something and you need to make a pre-equilibrium approximation or similar, but I doubt you’ll have stumbled across these yet.

The third expression in the list is actually the most puzzling. Is it meant to be read as

^2 or simply as

? It is also at odds with the first expression as presumably the same reaction has been carried out, given the choices of reagents.

Edit: I think I misread your question a little. I think all 3 experiments were supposed to use different reactions, but they picked the same reagents in experiments 1 and 3, which leads me to believe they are the same reaction performed either under different conditions or that experiment 3 was just performed incorrectly.
(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 2

Original post
by UtterlyUseless69
In mechanisms involving NO, it’s quite common to see [NO]^2 in the rate law, since it tends to rapidly dimerise and the reaction of this dimer with something else is usually a slow step in the mechanism.
I usually wouldn’t expect a rate law to involve other concentrations squared as it’s quite uncommon for reactions to be possible if they depend on elementary steps that are not either unimolecular (involve a single molecule) or bimolecular (involve two molecules colliding). Of course, there are cases where an intermediate is formed previously from 2+ equivalents of something and you need to make a pre-equilibrium approximation or similar, but I doubt you’ll have stumbled across these yet.
The third expression in the list is actually the most puzzling. Is it meant to be read as

^2 or simply as

? It is also at odds with the first expression as presumably the same reaction has been carried out, given the choices of reagents.
Edit: I think I misread your question a little. I think all 3 experiments were supposed to use different reactions, but they picked the same reagents in experiments 1 and 3, which leads me to believe they are the same reaction performed either under different conditions or that experiment 3 was just performed incorrectly.

That’s what confused me. I don’t know much about this and had to relate the videos to figure the majority of this out but seeing as rate law for both 1 and 3 are using the same reactants, I assume they made a typo in the second rate law but meh, I won’t know for certain until the tutor contacts me back. Just in limbo right now.

Reply 3

Original post
by KingRich
That’s what confused me. I don’t know much about this and had to relate the videos to figure the majority of this out but seeing as rate law for both 1 and 3 are using the same reactants, I assume they made a typo in the second rate law but meh, I won’t know for certain until the tutor contacts me back. Just in limbo right now.

very off topic but i love the shin chan pfp, that anime was my childhood :woo:

Reply 4

Original post
by dhqnyq
very off topic but i love the shin chan pfp, that anime was my childhood :woo:

😅 I’m obsessed with shin. I have a small collection of plush dolls haha

Reply 5

Original post
by KingRich
😅 I’m obsessed with shin. I have a small collection of plush dolls haha

I'm going to save up for one, that's very cool :yep:

Reply 6

Original post
by dhqnyq
I'm going to save up for one, that's very cool :yep:

Every time I go to Asia, I bring home a new plush. If ever you visit Bangkok, you should go to Mixt Chatuchak mall and Megasiam. They have a huge collection of Shinchan merchandise ☺️







Reply 7

Original post
by KingRich
Every time I go to Asia, I bring home a new plush. If ever you visit Bangkok, you should go to Mixt Chatuchak mall and Megasiam. They have a huge collection of Shinchan merchandise ☺️




When I begin travelling I'll definitely go there! Its been a dream to get a shinchan plush, thanks :smile:

Reply 8

Original post
by dhqnyq
When I begin travelling I'll definitely go there! Its been a dream to get a shinchan plush, thanks :smile:

I know it may not be the same feeling as getting one in person yourself but there are some on the Vinted app from resellers 😀

Reply 9

Original post
by KingRich
I know it may not be the same feeling as getting one in person yourself but there are some on the Vinted app from resellers 😀

I'll check it out :ta: Yeah it's quite more memorable getting it in person!

Quick Reply

How The Student Room is moderated

To keep The Student Room safe for everyone, we moderate posts that are added to the site.