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Unit 5 rate audits, from your own notes
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Rate laws are measured, and the balanced equation has no vote
The rate law comes from initial rate experiments: hold all but one concentration fixed, double the free one, and read the order off the rate's response, unchanged is zero, doubled is first, quadrupled is second. Coefficients from the balanced equation predict nothing here, and questions bait exactly that shortcut. Sum the measured orders for the overall order.
Integrated laws date the reaction, and the plots identify the order
Zero, first and second order each linearise differently: concentration, ln concentration or reciprocal concentration against time, and the straight one names the order. First order's signature is a constant half life, the same clock at any concentration, which is why decay problems hand you halvings. Choose the plot, read the slope's sign into k, and the dating questions become bookkeeping.
Collision theory prices temperature and orientation
Reaction requires collisions energetic enough to clear activation energy and oriented so the right atoms meet. Temperature raises the fraction of collisions above the barrier, steeply, because the energy distribution's tail grows fast, and collision theory turns those two requirements into the frequency and orientation factors questions probe conceptually. Energy diagrams put activation energy on stage.
Mechanisms face a two part audit
A proposed mechanism lists elementary steps, and elementary steps, unlike overall reactions, take their rate laws from their own molecularity. The audit: steps must sum to the overall equation, intermediates cancelling, and the slow step's rate law must match the measured one. If an intermediate appears in the slow step's law, substitute it away using the fast equilibrium before it. Both checks are graded.
Catalysts change the path, never the destination
A catalyst opens a lower activation energy route, often by entering an early step and returning in a later one, so it appears in the mechanism yet not in the overall equation. Rate rises in both directions; equilibrium position and thermodynamics stay untouched. The exam's favourite identification task hands you a mechanism and asks which species is the catalyst and which the intermediate: made then consumed is intermediate, consumed then remade is catalyst.
What to photograph for Kinetics
Your rate tables and mechanism audits. Related: Unit 4, photo to quiz and pricing.
Sources used on this page
- College Board, AP Chemistry
- Rate equation
- Collision theory
- Reaction mechanism
- Half-life
- Active recall
- Spaced repetition
- Testing effect
- Forgetting curve
- Generation effect
- Judgment of learning
- Metacognition
- Desirable difficulty
- Distributed practice
- Formative assessment
- Flashcard
- Cloze test
- Multiple choice
- Test (assessment)
- Educational assessment
- Advanced Placement
- Curriculum
- Study skills
- Study guide
- Note-taking
- Overlearning
- Instructional scaffolding
- Item analysis
- Mastery learning
| Order | The signature | The straight line plot |
|---|---|---|
| Zero | Rate ignores concentration | Concentration versus time |
| First | Constant half life | ln concentration versus time |
| Second | Half life stretches as it thins | Reciprocal concentration versus time |
| Elementary step | Molecularity writes the law | No plot needed |
| Catalysed | Lower activation energy | Faster both directions |
| With intermediate | Substitute it out | Fast equilibrium before slow step |
What does AP Chemistry Unit 5 cover?
Kinetics: rate laws from experiment, integrated rate laws and half lives, collision theory and energy diagrams, mechanisms and catalysis.
Can I read orders off the balanced equation?
No, except for a single elementary step. Overall orders come from initial rate experiments, and questions are built to punish the shortcut.
How do I identify first order data?
A straight ln concentration versus time plot, or a half life that stays constant as concentration falls.
What makes a mechanism acceptable?
Steps sum to the overall equation with intermediates cancelling, and the slow step reproduces the measured rate law.
What is the difference between catalyst and intermediate?
An intermediate is made then consumed; a catalyst is consumed then remade, so it survives to the end unchanged.
Can I build questions from my own Unit 5 notes?
Yes. Photograph the pages or upload the PDF and the questions stay inside this unit rather than sampling the whole course.
Last updated: 2026-08-15