How Do You Study The Kinetics Of Chemical Reactions?
• Understand the purpose of chemical kinetics. Chemical kinetics is a useful method not only for the determination of the rate of the reaction but also for the elucidation of the reaction mechanism. This is usually done by following the reaction pathway by making energy profile for that specific reaction. This energy profile is obtained either theoretically or experimentally. • On the theoretical level, the energy profile can be prepared from a series of calculations of points along the reaction pathway and then plotting these points in a graph using spread sheet. • If the reaction has intermediates, then this should appear in the graph otherwise one can conclude that the reaction is concerted without intermediates. • Use this energy profile to inform yourself about other parameter of the reaction, such as the value of its activation barrier. The value of the activation barrier can be obtained from the height of the graph at its maximum since it is usually represented by a parabola. In
