A toy model solved by statistical mechanics for teaching reaction kinetics beyond ideality

Fuente: arXiv
Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Hauptverfasser: Brogioli, Doriano, La Mantia, Fabio
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2018
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
_version_ 1866909458901237760
author Brogioli, Doriano
La Mantia, Fabio
author_facet Brogioli, Doriano
La Mantia, Fabio
contents Chemical equilibrium is fully characterized by thermodynamics, while the rates of chemical reactions can be calculated for ideal solutions by using mass-action equations. The evaluation of the rates of reactions in a non-ideal system is instead much more complex, even at equilibrium, being dependent on the microscopic features of the interactions: no universal theory exist. Here we propose a toy model to help students understand such complexity. It is formulated by means of statistical mechanics and aims at the evaluation of the exchange reaction rate at equilibrium. The toy model can be solved by the students, with various types of interactions, as an exercise. The results prove that no general rule connects the reaction rates to the thermodynamic quantities, such as the activity coefficients, dramatically proving the complexity and richness of the field.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_1812_07969
institution arXiv
publishDate 2018
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A toy model solved by statistical mechanics for teaching reaction kinetics beyond ideality
Brogioli, Doriano
La Mantia, Fabio
Chemical Physics
Statistical Mechanics
Chemical equilibrium is fully characterized by thermodynamics, while the rates of chemical reactions can be calculated for ideal solutions by using mass-action equations. The evaluation of the rates of reactions in a non-ideal system is instead much more complex, even at equilibrium, being dependent on the microscopic features of the interactions: no universal theory exist. Here we propose a toy model to help students understand such complexity. It is formulated by means of statistical mechanics and aims at the evaluation of the exchange reaction rate at equilibrium. The toy model can be solved by the students, with various types of interactions, as an exercise. The results prove that no general rule connects the reaction rates to the thermodynamic quantities, such as the activity coefficients, dramatically proving the complexity and richness of the field.
title A toy model solved by statistical mechanics for teaching reaction kinetics beyond ideality
topic Chemical Physics
Statistical Mechanics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/1812.07969