Rates of Formation and Disappearance

The formation and disappearance of chemical compounds are common phenomena. This happens when two or more substances react, and a new compound is formed. Sometimes the reaction is fast, and the compound is formed immediately; sometimes, it takes time, and sometimes, the compound is not formed at all. 

The rates of formation and disappearance of chemical elements are relevant to chemists. The rate of formation is the number of chemical elements produced each second, and the rate of disappearance is the number of chemical elements lost each second. 

Equilibrium Constant

The rate of formation and disappearance of compounds in a chemical reaction is sometimes called the equilibrium constant of the reaction. The equilibrium constant is a number that relates the concentration of reactant molecules to the concentration of product molecules. It is the constant that relates the rates of formation and disappearance of the elements in a chemical reaction and is, therefore, a measure of the direction of the reaction. The value of the equilibrium constant gives an idea of how fast the reaction occurs at a particular instant.

Applications of Rates of Formation and Disappearance

1. The rates of the formation and disappearance of crystals can be used to estimate the temperature of a liquid. 
2. A common application of the rates of formation and disappearance in chemistry is in the analysis of kinetic experiments. 
3. The rate of disappearance of nucleophilic species (ROMP) is a powerful method to study chemical reactivity. The technique describes the rate of spontaneous disappearances of nucleophilic species under certain conditions in which the disappearance is not governed by a particular chemical reaction, such as nucleophilic attack or formation. 
4. An electrophile’s disappearance rate can be studied by following its disappearance in an appropriate reaction media. This rate is called the rate of formation of the product (ROMP).
5. By applying the rate of formation and the rate of disappearance to chemical equations, chemists can determine the rate at which a chemical changes. This allows them to calculate how much time has passed since the chemical was formed or last changed. This is very useful for determining how long a reaction has been going on or the age of a chemical. The rate at which chemical forms can be determined using the Noyes’ Rule and the rate at which a chemical disappears can be determined using the Nernst Equation.

Factors influencing the Rate of Formation and Disappearance

The rate of formation and disappearance is dependent on the temperature, the pressure, the concentration, the speed of the reaction, the amount of product, and the purity of the substance. In general, the faster a chemical reaction occurs, the greater the concentration of reactants, and the higher the temperature and the greater the pressure, the faster the reaction occurs and the greater the amount of product formed. This is one of the basic principles of chemistry.

The rate of changes in a system is directly proportional to the concentration of the system and the square of the temperature of the system. When the concentration of a system is doubled, the system changes at double the previous rate. When the temperature of a system is doubled, the system changes at the original rate. At low temperatures, species are stable, while they are more likely to react at high temperatures. This is also the case for the formation and disappearance of bonds. In general, the higher the temperature, the faster the bonds break and form.

Examples of the Rates of Formation and Disappearance

When salt is added to water, the water molecules dissolve into the salt, increasing the salt concentration in the water. The rate at which the salt dissolves is determined by the amount of salt added to the water, the temperature, and the pressure of water. Similarly, when iron is dissolved in water, iron becomes part of the solution, increasing the concentration of iron in the water.

Importance of the Rates of Formation and Disappearance

The rates of formation and disappearance are important because if the rate of formation or disappearance of a particular compound is faster than the rate of formation or disappearance of the elements/compounds from which it was formed/dissolved, there will be more of the compound in the environment. If the rate of formation or disappearance of a compound is slower than the rate of formation or disappearance of the elements/compounds from which it was formed/dissolved, then there will be less of the compound in the environment. The inference is relevant in experiments, as it gives a scientist an idea of how much of the compound is being produced or consumed in the environment.

Conclusion

The rates of formation and disappearance are two different ways to measure how much of a substance is present in a given volume of a solution at different points in time. The rate of formation is the rate at which a substance is formed in a given volume of a solution, whereas the rate of disappearance is the rate at which a substance is removed from a given volume of a solution. Both of these rates are dependent on the concentrations of the substances in the solution. The two rates are often used in laboratories to determine how much of a particular substance is present in a given volume of solution at different times.