Rate Law
Rate Law or Law of Mass Action is a principle stating that the rate of a chemical reaction is directly proportional to the product of the masses of the reactants, each raised to a power equal to its coefficient in the balanced chemical equation.
This law was developed by Norwegian scientists Cato M. Guldberg and Peter Waage between 1864 and 1879. This fundamental principle that explains the dynamic equilibrium behavior observed in solutions. Moreover, it also states that the ratio of reactant to product concentrations remains constant at a state of chemical equilibrium.
Equilibrium Constant (Kc)
At equilibrium, the concentrations of reactants and products remain constant at a given temperature. Consider a simple reversible reaction where A and B are reactants, and C and D are products:
aA + bB → cC + dD
An equilibrium mixture, comprising both products and reactants, maintains a specific relationship between their concentrations. This relationship is expressed through the equilibrium constant, Kc, as follows
Kc=[C]c [D]d /[A]a[B]b
Here, Kc represents the equilibrium constant measured in moles per litre.
In this equation, the concentrations of A, B, C, and D at equilibrium are denoted by [A],[B],[C], and[D] respectively, with stoichiometric coefficients for each species.
Chemical Kinetics
Chemical Kinetics is a part of physical chemistry that focuses on the rate of chemical reactions and the reasons behind them. It involves figuring out the speed and details of chemical reactions, studying the factors that affect how fast they happen, and how molecules interact during these changes.
This field is important in various scientific areas, from improving industrial processes to understanding complicated reactions in biological systems. By focusing on how molecules interact, chemical kinetics helps us to understand the complex movements of atoms and molecules in the world of chemistry.
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