## Pre-Equilibrium Approach

$K = \frac{k_{forward}}{k_{reverse}}$

Miya Lopez 1I
Posts: 62
Joined: Tue Nov 14, 2017 3:00 am
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### Pre-Equilibrium Approach

How will we know when to use the pre-equilibrium approach? Will we always use this approach instead of the other two ways?

Vincent Li 4L
Posts: 48
Joined: Fri Sep 28, 2018 12:19 am

### Re: Pre-Equilibrium Approach

Professor Lavelle told us that we would not have to use the direct computation method in the class, but the slides did mention that assuming you perform the steady-state approximation correctly, the final result should be equivalent to the result you get by doing the pre-equilibrium method. Your choice of methodology doesn't really matter, but pre-equilibrium is easier (but less flexible in that it applies only to reaction mechanisms where the 2nd step is slower than the 1st step) and requires less work. Steady-state approximation is a more general method that can be applied to more scenarios, but it requires more work and substitution to work. Hope this clears the differences up.