The rate of a chemical reaction depends on the concentrations of the
reactants and products and on the temperature.
The rate law of a chemical reaction is the differential equation for the rate
of change of the concentration of a reactant or product as a function of
concentrations of reactants and products.
Rate laws can be determined experimentally using the method of initial
rates.
The rate laws for some reactions can be integrated to obtain integrated
rate laws.
Experimental data on concentrations can be compared with integrated
rate laws to determine the experimental rate law.
In a simple case it is possible to integrate the rate law for a reaction with a
non-negligible reverse reaction.
Two consecutive reactions constitute a simple mechanism for a chemical
reaction, and the rate law can be integrated for a simple case.
Specialized techniques exist for studying fast reactions.
