Doubling Concentrations

[David Sarkissian 1K]

Does doubling concentrations double the order of a reaction or does it just increase the order by 1?

[juliasloan_4g]

You can only find orders based on experimental data so this depends on the reaction. If you double the concentration and nothing happens to the rate, this is a zero order reaction. If you double the concentration and the rate also doubles, this is a first order reaction. If you double the concentration and the rate is squared this is a second order reaction.

[Joonsoo Kim 4L]

Changing the concentration in experiments can show you which order the reaction is, but it doesn't change the order of the reaction. In other words, in rate=k[A]^n, changing [A] does not change n.

[MichelleRamirez_2F]

If you are talking about a first order reaction the doubling of a reactant means the reaction rate is doubled. If it's a second order reaction then the reaction rate is increase by a factor of x^2, where x would be your reaction rate.