00:01
All right, so for part a, we're asked what the rate law would be just looking at this reaction.
00:04
The only way to deduce the rate law from the reaction itself is to assume that it's a one -step elementary reaction.
00:16
And when we assume that it's elementary, the rate law would be equal to the rate constant, multiplied by the concentration of each of the reactants raised to their coefficient.
00:26
So a to the second power and b to the second power.
00:31
If it's not an elementary reaction, meaning that there's more than one step, then you can't possibly tell because you'd need more information about the initial rate data.
00:42
All right, for part b, we're told that the rate law is first order in both a and b.
00:54
So, like, that would mean the actual rate law is the rate constant k times a to the first power and b to the first power.
01:04
So we need to write a mechanism that's consistent with that, meaning the slow rate determining step needs to have a to the first power and b to the first power...