What is the order of a reaction?

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    The order of a reaction in some species seems an obvious, trivial concept that all chemists master. However, in complex situations such as catalytic systems, the order of a reaction is not always that simple: it can be partial, negative and function of other parameters. In order to analyze rate laws and experimental orders of complex reaction networks, it is necessary to have a proper mathematical description of what the order of a reaction is. In general, chemists working in catalysis are unaware that such a mathematical description exists and therefore they are restricted to analyzing only extreme limit cases of rate laws. This manuscript offers a description and a simple demonstration of this concept, known as elasticity coefficient or normalized sensitivity. It also presents several examples of applications on classic and usual catalytic scenarios.
    Original languageEnglish
    JournalTopics in Catalysis
    Early online date9 May 2017
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2017

    Keywords

    • order
    • elasticity coefficient
    • rate laws
    • Kinetics

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'What is the order of a reaction?'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this