Kinetics and the Rate of Chemical Reactions

This chapter deals with chemical kinetics including the factors that control the rate of chemical reactions and chemical mechanisms. The major topics include the rate laws, reaction order, integrated rate laws, reaction half life, collision theory, the Arrhenius equation, kinetic isotope effects, reaction molecularity, rate determining step, and chain reactions. The integrated rate laws are used to determine the concentration of reactant at any time after the beginning of the reaction, the reaction order, and the reaction rate constant. The discussion of collision theory introduces the concept of activation energy and explains the effectiveness of catalysis in engineering applications, including the catalytic converter. The importance of chain reaction mechanisms is emphasized and the depletion of stratospheric ozone caused by the release of chlorofluorocarbons into the atmosphere is discussed as an example.