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Q.When does average rate become equal to instantaneous rate?

Meghalaya MboseMBOSE Meghalaya Intermediate Board 2024Subjective· 1mImportance★★★★★
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Average rate is a rate measured over a finite time span; as that span shrinks to zero it becomes the instantaneous rate — so the two are equal in the limit Δt→0\Delta t \to 0.

The average rate of a reaction over an interval Δt=t2−t1\Delta t = t_2 - t_1 is:

Average rate=−Δ[R]Δt=−[R]2−[R]1t2−t1\text{Average rate} = -\dfrac{\Delta[R]}{\Delta t} = -\dfrac{[R]_2-[R]_1}{t_2-t_1}

This is the mean rate over that whole time span and can mask how quickly the rate is actually changing within the interval.

The instantaneous rate at a specific time tt is the slope of the concentration-vs-time curve at that exact point:

Instantaneous rate=−d[R]dt\text{Instantaneous rate} = -\dfrac{d[R]}{dt}

Mathematically, the instantaneous rate is defined as the limit of the average rate as the time interval shrinks to zero:

Instantaneous rate=lim⁡Δt→0(−Δ[R]Δt)=−d[R]dt\text{Instantaneous rate} = \lim_{\Delta t \to 0} \left(-\dfrac{\Delta[R]}{\Delta t}\right) = -\dfrac{d[R]}{dt} …

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