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Ch.14 - Chemical Kinetics
Chapter 14, Problem 83b

The tabulated data were collected for this reaction at 500 °C: CH3CN(g) → CH3NC( g) b. What is the half-life for this reaction (at the initial concentration)?

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Key Concepts

Here are the essential concepts you must grasp in order to answer the question correctly.

Half-life

Half-life is the time required for the concentration of a reactant to decrease to half of its initial value. It is a crucial concept in kinetics, particularly for first-order reactions, where the half-life is constant and independent of concentration. Understanding half-life allows chemists to predict how long it will take for a reaction to reach a certain point, which is essential for analyzing reaction rates.
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Reaction Kinetics

Reaction kinetics is the study of the rates of chemical reactions and the factors that affect these rates. It involves understanding how concentration, temperature, and catalysts influence the speed of a reaction. In this context, knowing the kinetics of the reaction between CH3CN and CH3NC is necessary to calculate the half-life and understand the reaction's behavior over time.
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Concentration and Rate Laws

Concentration refers to the amount of a substance in a given volume, which directly impacts the rate of a chemical reaction. Rate laws express the relationship between the rate of a reaction and the concentration of its reactants. For the given reaction, determining the initial concentration of CH3CN is essential for calculating the half-life, as it influences how quickly the reaction proceeds.
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