The study of rates and steps in mechanisms of chemical processes.
Chemical kinetics includes investigations of how different experimental conditions can influence the speed of a chemical reaction and yield information about the reaction's mechanism and transition states, as well as the construction of mathematical models that can describe the characteristics of a chemical reaction.
In elementary physical chemistry, the study of chemical kinetics involves studying a few "orders" of kinetics (zero, first, second, pseudo-order); their half-lives; concentration or log[concentration] vs. time graphs; Radioactive decay and growth kinetics are also frequently covered.
