Chemistry and Chemical Biology ETDs

Publication Date

6-2-1954

Abstract

In the investigation of any chemical reaction, the main points of interest are the conditions of equilibrium, the rate at which equilibrium is approached, and the mechanisms by which the reaction occurs. The first of these is determined by the standard free energy change, a thermodynamic quantity which depends only upon the initial and final states of the system. However, two reactions having the same value of the standard free energy change may approach equilibrium at radically different rates, one being practically instantaneous and the other almost infinitely slow. The field of chemical kinetics is concerned with the study of the rates and mechanisms of chemical reactions. Predictions of reaction rates, based upon existing theories of rate processes, are usually good only to order of magnitude; it is therefore of interest to obtain kinetic data on many types of reactions under various conditions in order to lay a firm foundation for the formulation of better theories of reaction kinetics.

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Chemistry

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology

First Committee Member (Chair)

Milton Kahn

Second Committee Member

Jesse LeRoy Riebsomer

Third Committee Member

Carl Wellington Beck

Fourth Committee Member

John Root Green

Fifth Committee Member

John Francis Suttle

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