First Order Reactions [ENDORSED]

[William Lan 2l]

When a reaction is first order, does it mean that it's faster or slower than a second order reaction?

[Eli Aminpour 2K]

It depends on the reaction and the amount of concentration available. Its too general to say all of one is faster than another

[Vincent Tse 1K]

If a reaction is "first order", it simply means that the rate is proportional to the concentrations of one of the reactants.
If a reaction is "second order", it simply means that the rate is proportional to the SQUARE of the concentrations of that reactant.
A reaction being first order does not necessarily indicate that it is faster than a second order reaction, just that changing the concentrations of a reactant in the first order reaction has a less "drastic" effect on the rate than if you made that same concentration change to a second order reaction.