Final answer:
Chemical kinetics is the study of the speed of chemical reactions, focusing on how reactant concentrations change over time and the molecular events that occur during these reactions.
Step-by-step explanation:
Chemical kinetics is the area of chemistry concerned with the study of the rates of chemical reactions. It involves a detailed analysis of how reaction rates change under various conditions and how these changes relate to the reaction mechanism - the step-by-step molecular events that lead to the formation of products. In this field, chemists examine factors such as reaction rates, how reactant concentrations change over time, the effect of temperature on the speed of reactions, and the role of catalysis in reaction dynamics.
The correct answer to the student's question is that chemical kinetics is the study of a) Speed of reactions. It does not primarily concern the stability of products or reactants, but rather how quickly reactants are converted to products and the molecular-level events that facilitate this conversion.