[Michiyo]

Hello, I'm having a lot of trouble with this question and I just hope someone can help prode me in the right direction? I don't want the answer, I want to learn how to solve this question. Thank you so much!


A strong oxidant A is added to a water contaminated by B and C (in the
initial state, the water only contains B and C). Initial concentrations of B and C are 3 and 5 mmol/L. Reactions and their rate constants are shown below.

A + B = X (k1 = 109 L/mol·s) (1)
A + C = Y (k2 = 0.5 x 109 L/mol·s) (2)

Please calculate how many percents of the oxidant A used for degradation of B and C
in the initial phase, respectively.


I've written the rate of the reactions but I'm confused about how to go about calculating the percentage of reactant A. I don't have the rates so how can I calculate the concentration of reactant A? Any help will be helpful.

[DevaDevil]

you have 2 reaction rate constants.

remember how you calculate the flux of a product in a chemical reaction?

For a reaction of A + B --> X
d [X] / dt = k * [A] * [B ]
in a similar way for the other reaction

you have concentrations of B and C, and the constants, so can you calculate the respective fluxes of reaction 1 and 2 as a function of concentration of A?