In chemical kinetics, the rate (or velocity) of a reaction mechanism with several steps is often determined by the slowest step, known as the rate-determining step (RDS) or rate-limiting step. The experimental rate equation can help to identify which step is rate-determining.
In a reaction coordinate, the transition state with the highest energy is the rate-determining step of a given reaction.
The concept of the rate-determining step is very important to the optimization and understanding of many chemical processes such as catalysis and combustion.
Read more about Rate-determining Step: Example Reaction: NO2 + CO, Nucleophilic Substitution, Diffusion Control
Famous quotes containing the word step:
“The machine unmakes the man. Now that the machine is perfect, the engineer is nobody. Every new step in improving the engine restricts one more act of the engineer,—unteaches him.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)