Kinetics & Equilibrium
What You’ll Learn
Reaction mechanisms describe the step-by-step sequence of elementary reactions that occur during a chemical transformation. The slowest elementary step in a multi-step mechanism is called the rate-determining step, and it determines the overall rate law for the reaction. Reaction intermediates are short-lived species formed and consumed in different steps of the mechanism. Understanding reaction mechanisms is crucial for predicting the products, rates, and energetics of chemical reactions.