Question

Can you explain  the difference between the rate of a reaction, the reaction rate, and the rate law? Also is there a difference between average rate of concentration change and instantaneous rate of concentration change, and how do they relate to the rate law? Please explain!

Answer 1

Rate of reaction -> how "fast" a reaction is occuring, therefore the change in concentration of reactant with respect to time:

dC/dt

The reaction rate is essentially the Rate in which the TOTAL reaction is occuring

for

A + 2B.

the individual rate of reaction of A is half of that of rate of reaction of B

the reaction rate is typically based on "A"

Finally

Rate Law is a "Law" which follows the reactants in order to form products

they can be described mathematically via:

Rate = K*[A]^a[B]^b

In which they will be describing the process completely.

average rate of concentration change --> as the name implies, this uses AVERAGES, so they tend to have larger error values

instantaneous rate of concentration change --> since it is instantaneous , this is more precise, since dT (change in time) is limiting toward 0, i.e. to a very specific value

They relate since:

Rate = K*Ca

we can find Rate via average:

(dCa2-dCa1)/(t2-t1) =  K*Ca

instantaneous

dCa/dt = K*Ca