Slow Step

[ian_haliburton_1f]

Can someone explain to me why the slowest step in a reaction process determines the overall rate law for the reaction?

[Lopez_Melissa-Dis4E]

You can only go as fast as your slowest reaction, therefore it is determines your overall rate law.

[Eric Quach 1C]

Another way to put it would be that there is a bottleneck at the slow step. For example if there are 3 steps in a reaction and step 2 is the slow step, it doesn't matter if step 1 and 3 are almost instantaneous as step 2 must finish occurring before step 3 which completes the reaction.

[Celine Cheng 1H]

What would happen if you have 2 slow steps? Is the slower step still the determining rate? Is having more than 2 slow steps possible?

[Chris Freking 2G]

What would happen if you have 2 slow steps? Is the slower step still the determining rate? Is having more than 2 slow steps possible?

You can still have multiple "slow" reactants, but ultimately the slowest one will still determine the overall rate law.

(An extremely small bottleneck will still be a bottleneck for another small bottleneck)

[Dong Hyun Lee 4E]

How do you determine the slowest step then? is it the lowest k value?