Question

What happens in the reaction involving different reactants?

Answer 1

When the reaction involves different reactants, the reaction can be biomolecular or trimolecular depending upon the reactants while unimolecular has only one reactant.

Bimolecular reaction:

• “A bimolecular reaction involves a simultaneous collision between two species.”
• Example: Dissociation of Hydrogen iodide $\left(\mathrm{HI}\right)$.
• The chemical equation can be depicted as:

$2\mathrm{HI}\left(\mathrm{g}\right)\to {\mathrm{H}}_2\left(\mathrm{g}\right)+{\mathrm{I}}_2\left(\mathrm{g}\right)$

Trimolecular reaction:

• “The reactions involve a simultaneous collision between three reacting species.”
• Example: Formation of Nitrogen dioxide $\left({\mathrm{NO}}_2\right)$.
• The chemical equation can be depicted as:

$2\mathrm{NO}\left(\mathrm{g}\right)+{\mathrm{O}}_2\left(\mathrm{g}\right)\to 2{\mathrm{NO}}_2\left(\mathrm{g}\right)$