REACTION SIMULATOR

A very useful kinetics and equilibrium simulator has been developed here at USC,¤ which allows you to visualize the motions of molecules in a REACTION BOX.  The collisions of a pair of reactant molecules sometimes gives rise to a chemical reaction - you can use the simulator to experiment to see how changing the conditions in the REACTION BOX alters the resulting kinetics. There is a wide variety of options that can be changed to study how the reaction kinetics change.  Here is a chance to experiment without lab goggles or getting your hands wet!

A number of examples are given for simulations, with notes describing what's going on.   Review these and play with variables like the temperature, concentration of each particle or reaction rate constants.  The kinetics simulator looks a bit complicated, but really it's pretty simple- it just has a lot of options. Read the instructions for more details on what's going on.

  1. A unimolecular decay reaction using absolute rates
  2. A unimolecular decay reaction using activation energy barriers
  3. NO2 time decay using absolute rate constants (Molecule decaying into two particles)
  4. NO2 time decay using activation energy barriers (Molecule decaying into two particles)
  5. A bimolecular reaction using absolute rate constants
  6. A bimolecular reaction using activation energy barriers
  7. A rate limiting step reaction (A<->B<->C) using absolute rates
  8. A rate limiting step reaction (A<->B<->C) using activation energies.

¤    Written by Eric Remy in Java, 1997.  Copyright USC Department of Chemistry.  Inspired by an applet from Chris Grayce (UC Irvine).

Page created by Steve Bradforth, 29 July, 1999