Theories Of Reaction Rates

The rate law for the reaction is of the form: Where and are the orders of reaction with respect to and , respectively. We will first determine the value of and using the method of comparing experiments. Step 1: Determine (Order with respect to X) From Experiment 1 and Experiment 2, we can compare the rates while keeping constant: Step 2: Determine (Order with respect to Y) Next, we use Experiment 2 and Experiment 3, where is kept constant: Step 3: Determine the overall order of the reaction The overall order of the reaction is the sum of and : Thus, the overall order of the reaction is 5.