Lindemann Mechanism - The Steady-state Approximation

The Steady-state Approximation

In some cases, one of the elementary steps is much slower than the other steps. This slow step is called the rate-determining step because it is the only step that affects the rate. In layman's terms, a rate-determining step could be compared to traveling through a traffic jam: the time it takes to complete a journey is most severely affected by the time spent waiting in the traffic jam, which is the slow step of the journey.

In the steady-state approximation, it is assumed that each of the elementary steps influences the rate, so there is no "fast" or "slow" step. Therefore, all of the steps must be accounted for in calculating the rate equation. It is also assumed that the concentration of intermediate A* remains constant over time because the concentration of A* builds up very quickly but decays very slowly over the course of a reaction, and the concentration of A* never becomes large. This assumption simplifies the calculation of the rate equation.