In your study of general chemistry up to this point (CHEM 152 and 1 unit in CHEM 152), you have learned a lot about chemical change (shown by chemical reactions). You have learned how many classes of compounds react (or not) when combined. You’ve learned to predict products and their amounts and masses. You’ve learned how to determine whether the reactions require or produce energy. What has not been covered is how fast or slow these chemical changes occur. Chemical kinetics (our first topic in Unit 2) is the study of the rate of chemical reactions.
In addition to studying reaction rates directly, you will learn why the rates are fast or slow, and how to determine how much reactant is left at any point in the reaction. Kinetics also sheds light on the reaction mechanism (exactly how the reaction occurs on the atomic or molecular level). We will close the study of kinetics looking at the connection between reaction rates and reaction mechanisms.
