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An Analogy to Help Students Understand Reaction Orders

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Charles J. Marzzacco

Rhode Island College, Department of Physical Sciences, Providence, RI 02908-1991

J. Chem. Educ., 1998, 75 (4), p 482

DOI: 10.1021/ed075p482.1

Publication Date (Web): April 1, 1998

Section:

History, Education, and Documentation

Abstract

This article describes a simple analogy to help students understand the concept of the rate law for a chemical reaction. The analogy involves the mathematical relationships between various characteristics of a cube and the length of its edge. These cube properties are the number of vertices, the sum of the edge lengths, the total surface area and the volume. These four properties depend on the edge length to the zero, first, second and third power, respectively. Thus, the four properties are mathematically analogous to zero-, first-, second- and third-order reactions, respectively. This simple analogy is found to be effective in helping students to do rate law problems.

Keywords (Audience):

First-Year Undergraduate / General

Keywords (Domain):

Physical Chemistry

Keywords (Feature):

Applications and Analogies

Keywords (Pedagogy):

Analogies / Transfer

Keywords (Subject):

Learning Theories

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This article has been cited by 1 ACS Journal articles (1 most recent appear below).

Learning Stoichiometry with Hamburger Sandwiches
Liliana Haim , Eduardo Cortón , Santiago Kocmur and Lydia Galagovsky
Journal of Chemical Education2003 80 (9), 1021
- Learning Stoichiometry with Hamburger Sandwiches
  Liliana Haim , Eduardo Cortón , Santiago Kocmur and Lydia Galagovsky
  Journal of Chemical Education2003 80 (9), 1021
  Simple and understandable activities involving the manufacturing of hamburgers can be used as an analogy for stoichiometric concepts and calculations.
  Abstract | Hi-Res PDF | PDF w/ Links