Question

The reactant concentration in a second-order reaction was 0.670mol L

 after 205 s and 5.00×10⁻² mol L after 900 s

 . What is the rate constant for this reaction?

Answer 1

The integrated rate law for the second-order reaction A → products is 1/[A]_t = kt + 1/[A]_0. Because this equation has the form y = mx + b, a plot of the inverse of [A] as a function of time yields a straight line. The rate constant for the reaction can be determined from the slope of the line, which is equal to k.