Chemistry
Methods for Determining Rate Laws Experimentally
Quick fact
The initial rates method can determine reaction orders without needing to fit complex curves: just measure the slope of concentration vs. time at the very start for several different starting concentrations.
Why this is interesting
How do chemists figure out that a reaction’s rate depends on, say, the square of the concentration of one reactant and not at all on another? The answer lies in clever experimental methods that reveal the hidden mathematical structure of chemical change.