Understanding Rate Laws

* Rate Law: A mathematical expression that describes how the rate of a reaction depends on the concentrations of the reactants.

* Order: The exponent of each reactant's concentration in the rate law is its order.

Analyzing the Information

You're given the following:

* Doubling [A] and [B] doubles the rate. This implies that the reaction is first order with respect to both A and B.

Writing the Rate Law

Based on the information, the rate law for the reaction is:

Rate = k[A][B]

Where:

* k is the rate constant

* [A] is the concentration of reactant A

* [B] is the concentration of reactant B

Explanation

* First-order with respect to A: If you double [A], the rate doubles.

* First-order with respect to B: If you double [B], the rate doubles.

Overall Order

This reaction is second order overall because the exponents of the concentrations in the rate law add up to 2 (1 + 1 = 2).