PrayogX › Chemistry › Chemical Kinetics

Graphical representations of a first-order reaction R to P

Run a first-order reactor at a chosen concentration and rate constant, log your own samples, then replot those samples on each of the four printed sets of axes and watch two of them fail on curvature and on sign.

Sub-topics covered

• Integrated first-order rate law
• Rate versus rate constant
• Sign conventions for d[R]/dt and d[P]/dt
• Half-life independence from initial concentration
• Arrhenius temperature dependence of k
• Reading and interpreting kinetics graphs

What it teaches

• A rate is a slope and carries a sign; a rate constant does not
• Exponential decay of [R] forces concave-down growth of [P]
• d[R]/dt is linear in [R] with slope minus k, through the origin
• k depends on temperature only, never on time or on concentration
• t-half = ln2/k is the operational signature of first order

Simulation ID

• ADV-2026-P2-CHE-Q05 · revision 1

See this simulation in the library →  ·  open the simulation file on its own