Mass-action reaction

A mass-action reaction implements the classical model of a chemical reaction, converting reactants into products according to the law of mass action.

For this reaction type, the reaction rate is given by:

\[ r=k \prod_{i=1}^n(c_i)^{\nu_i} \]

Here, \(c_i\) are the concentrations of the reactants and \(\nu_i\) is the stoichiometric coefficient of reactant \(i\).

This type of reaction requires two parameters:

  • equation : The reaction equation.
  • rate_constant : the rate constant \(k\) in the equation above.

The reaction equation is defined by writing the reaction formula as follows.

  • Use the name of the species as defined in the Globals section to reference it.
  • A stoichiometric coefficient of 1 does not need to be defined, but otherwise it must an integer number that appears before the species’ name and separated from it via a multiplication symbol *.
  • A plus symbol + is used to enumerate all reactants and products.
  • The symbols --> or -> can be used to separate the reactants from the products.
  • The reactant or product lists can be empty.

Here are some examples. Assume that all the chemical species are properly defined in the Globals section. 

A-->B
A+B-->C
2*A+2*B->C+B
A-->
-->B