CHEMISTRY COMMUNITY

Is the rate really only dependent on the reactants? Is that the scope of this class?

I think we only consider reactants because we are talking about the initial rate. At that point, there will be minimal products formed so the concentrations of products are not considered.

We are looking at the limiting reactant, or the one that reacts more slowly

the rate depends on the reactants initially, over time the products will decompose back into reactants as they reach equilibrium, but initially it only matters on reactants (assuming temperature and all other factors are constant)

Also remember to look at the order of the reactants. If there rate order of a reactant is zero, then it is not dependent on the concentration, but rather k.

We focus a lot on initial reactants, as that tells us about the initial rate.