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The idea of zero-order kinetics frequently produces astonishment to students. To clarify the authentic meaning, the following simple analogy can be used. The higher the number of mice in the box, the higher the probability of one mouse escaping. The rate of disappearance of hungry cats is independent of their number.
The idea of zero-order kinetics frequently produces astonishment to students. To clarify the authentic meaning, the following simple analogy can be used. The higher the number of mice in the box, the higher the probability of one mouse escaping. The rate of disappearance of hungry cats is independent of their number.
The idea of zero-order kinetics frequently produces astonishment to students. To clarify the authentic meaning, the following simple analogy can be used. The higher the number of mice in the box, the higher the probability of one mouse escaping. The rate of disappearance of hungry cats is independent of their number.
1458 Journal of Chemical Education Vol. 76 No. 10 October 1999 JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu
The idea of zero-order kinetics frequently produces as- tonishment the first time it is presented to students because it is difficult to imagine a reaction as being independent of the concentration of all the species involved. This situation, when mentioned in texts, is seldom illustrated with examples, so that reactions following zero-order kinetics are sometimes considered chemical curiosities (1). To clarify the authentic meaning of zero-orders kinetics the following simple analogy can be used. Imagine a room in which there is a box with stressed mice attempting to escape. The box is not perfectly sealed so that mice can escape, although the exit is not visible to them. Also in the room are cats, hungry and efficient hunters, who have detected the existence of mice and are on the watch so that those that escape are immediately captured (see figure). In this reaction the reagents are mice (M) and hungry cats (C), the product is the pair formation MC, the room is the scenario of the reaction, and the reaction is over when each cat has obtained one mouse. Applying common sensedespite its subjective compo- nentit is reasonable to admit that: 1. The higher the number of mice in the box, the higher the probability of one mouse finding the exit; that is, therateat which miceescapedependson their number (concentration) in the box. 2. The rate of disappearance of hungry cats, the same as the absolute value of the rate of mousecat pairs formed, is independent of their number because they must wait for free mice in order to capture them. Consequently, the rate law for the reaction, with respect to C and MC, can be expressed as d[C]/dt = d[(MC)]/dt = k[M] x [C] 0 = k[M] x The overall order of the reaction is x and the partial orders are x (unknown; however, constant for a particular run) with respect to [M] and 0 with respect to [C] (2). In kinetics the rate of a reaction is measured under a variety of conditionsto obtain asmuch information aspossible, and care is required to interpret the results from different runs to draw coherent conclusions. Imagine a run starting with 500 mice and 5 cats and three observers examining variations in M, C, and MC, respectively. The first observer concludesthat the rate of disappearance of mice iszero (d[M]/dt = 0) because it isnot possible to detect the small change from 500 to 495 in the group of running mice (1% resolution is associated with most measurements). Of course, the correct conclusion from thisobservation should be: the fact that we are unable to appreciate changes in a system is not a sufficient condition to conclude that nothing is happening in it. The second observer concludes that the rate of disap- pearance of cats is constant (d[C]/dt = constant) because the time required by the fifth mouse to escape (when the mice are 496) isimperceptibly longer than that required by the first (at 500). The third observer comes to a similar conclusion: d[MC]/dt = constant. Thus, in runs starting from a large excess of mice over cats, the above rate law transforms into d[C]/dt = d[MC]/dt = k[M] x [C] 0 = k obs and the reaction seems to follow zero-order kinetics. It is said that the reaction has run in pseudo-zero-order conditions. It should be noted that distinct values for k obs are obtained for runs of this kind starting from different numbers of mice. In conclusion, pseudo-zero-order kinetics can eventually be established when measuring the variation in concentration of the limiting reagent in the presence of a large excess of others(in fact, overall first-order reactionsinvolving more than one species might run under pseudo-zero-order conditions). If so, the mousecat analogy can be useful in shedding light on the problem, in the same way that mice inside the box are unreactive and become very reactive once they escape. This is analogous to a reagent that requires an initial trans- formation (isomerization, dissociation,) to become reac- tive (slow step) so that the resulting species reacts immedi- ately (fast step) as it forms. Acknow ledgment To Jose A. Olivares for helpful comments. Litera ture Cited 1. Hindmarsh, K.; House, D. A. J. Chem. Educ. 1996, 73, 585. 2. For the terminology on kineticssee Reeve, J. C. J. Chem. Educ. 1991, 68, 728 and referencestherein. Mice in the Box for Zero-Order Kinetics Francisco J . Arniz Laboratorio de Qumica Inorgnica, Universidad de Burgos, 09001 Burgos, Spain; *farnaiz@cid.cid.ubu.es Applications and Analogies edited by Ron DeLorenzo Middle Georgia College Cochran, GA 31014