Total order of reaction?

[Gabriel Barcelona 2L]

If there are multiple reactants, how do you find the total order of the reaction? What specific steps are there and what does the order of the reaction signify?

[kelsi husted 2i]

Hi!
To find the total order of the reaction, add up the individual orders of the reactants. The order of the reaction signifies how the concentration of reactants affects the reaction rate, with each order indicating a corresponding depndency on concentration: zero-order has no dependency, first-order has a linear dependency, and second-order has a quadratic dependency.
Hope this helps

[CristinaG]

If there are multiple reactants, your overall order of the reaction will be the sum of the orders of all the reactants. So if you had a first order reactant and a second order reactant, your overall order for the reaction would be 3rd order. This value just tells you how changing all concentrations of reactants by the same factor at the same time will affect your rate. If we have 3rd order reaction, decreasing all concentrations by a factor of 2 will result in the rate being slower by a factor of 2^3=8