Identifying First and Second Order

[Madelyn Romberg 1H]

How do reaction mechanisms indicate first or second order? Can i get a description on things to look for to identify and connect the two?

[Chris Tai 1B]

One easy way to determine the order of the reaction is to look at the rate law for the reaction. If there is one reactant, then the order of the reaction will be an order of one. If there are two reactants, then the reaction will be of order two. However, it's also important to look at the coefficients of the reactants before creating the rate law. A good rule of thumb is to add up the exponents for each of the reactants in the rate law = k[A]^a[B]^b[C]^c where k is the rate constant. Once you add up a, b, and c, you'll get the order of the reaction

[Joowon Seo 3A]

If you plot ln of reactant with time and it is a straight line it is first order. If you plot 1/R vs time and it is a straight line it is second order.

[jisulee1C]

you can look at the graphs, look at the units for the rate constant, and also determine using a table of concentrations