To write the equations relating the rate of reactant consumption to the product formation rate, identify the balanced chemical reaction, apply the stoichiometric coefficients, and use them to relate changes in reactant and product concentrations over time.
To write the equations that relate the rates of consumption of the reactants and the rates of formation of the products in a chemical reaction, you need to understand the stoichiometry of the reaction.
Consider a balanced chemical reaction with the general form:
aA + bB → cC + dD
where A and B are reactants, C and D are products, and a, b, c, d are the stoichiometric coefficients.
The rate at which A and B are consumed and the rate at which C and D are formed can be expressed by the following rate laws:
Rate of disappearance of A = - (1/a) × (d[A]/dt)Rate of disappearance of B = - (1/b) × (d[B]/dt)Rate of formation of C = (1/c) × (d[C]/dt)Rate of formation of D = (1/d) × (d[D]/dt)
These equations assume that the reaction is going to completion and that it occurs uniformly throughout the entire solution. It's important to include the stoichiometric coefficients and ensure that the rates are multiplied by the reciprocal of their respective stoichiometric numbers.