CHEMISTRY COMMUNITY

I know that 2nd order rate laws must be graphed differently in order to determine k, but what is the difference between making a graph molarity vs time, 1/M vs time, and ln(M) vs time?s

The difference stems from the fact that you need the graph to be linear.if you plot the concentration against time and the graph is curved, you take the ln of your plotted concentrations, if the graph is still curved we plot the reciprocal of the concentration( 1/[A] ). if your graph is linear by only plotting the concentrations as they are, its zero order. If plotting the concentrations gives you a curved graph but taking the ln of the concentrations and plotting them against time gives you a linear graph the reaction is first order. If you plot the lnA and its still curved but you plot the reciprocal of the concentration, 1/A against time and it gives you a linear graph it is second order.