Chemical Kinetics

• The rate of a reaction is the change in the concentration of reactants or products per unit time
• First order reaction is one whose rate depends on the concentration of a single reactants raised to the first power
• Second order reaction is one whose rate depends either on the concentration of a single reactants raised to the second power or the concentration of two reactants, each raised to the first power
• Zero order reaction is one whose rate does not depend on the concentrations of any reactant
• An elementary reaction is a reaction in which reactants react directly in a single step to form products
• A complex reaction involves more than one step
• Activation energy is the minimum amount of energy required to activate a chemical reaction
• Reaction mechanism is the step(s) through which a reaction occur
• A catalyst is a chemical substance that changes the speed of a chemical reaction without undergoing a permanent chemical change itself
• The order of a reaction is the sum of orders with respect to the reactants in the rate determining step
• Unimolecular reaction is an elementary reaction with a single reactant
• Bimolecular reaction is a reaction that involves the collision of two reactants molecules or two molecules of the same reactant
• Termolecular reaction is a reaction that involves the simultaneous collision of three molecules