Case Study: Nitrogen Pentoxide Kinetics

In this case study, you are asked to make qualitative observations about the effect of temperature on the decomposition of nitrogen pentoxide. You are also asked to investigate the question: does the time required for a given fraction of a reactant to decompose via a first order reaction depend on the concentration? In other words, how much time does it take for half of a starting concentration of N₂O₅ to decompose?

The reaction mechanism is:

2 N₂O₅ -----> 4 NO₂ + O₂

This is a first-order kinetic reaction, based on:

rate = k[N₂O₅]

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