196 



SPEEDS OF SOME PROCESSES IN BIOLOGICAL SYSTEMS 



TABLE 8- 1 . Summary of Rate Equations for Some Chemical Reactions. 



Reactions are of the general form: 



Products 



( f o - c ) 



wherec is initial concentration of A, andf is the amount of some product formed 

 at any time, t. 



*The index of the concentration in the rate or velocity equation. 

 **Velocityi> = dcjdl. 



TABLE 8-2. Table of Specific Rate Constants, k 



The rate of every individual chemical reaction or physical process in- 

 creases with increasing temperature, i.e., with increasing kinetic energy in 

 the molecules. This is true without exception. However, in some physio- 

 logical processes an increase in the temperature permits certain side reac- 

 tions to occur, which so interfere with the chain of events that the rate of 

 the over-all process decreases with increasing temperature. 



For a great many chemical reactions it is found experimentally that the 

 rate of reaction just about' doubles for every 10 Centigrade degrees of rise in 

 temperature. For most physical processes involving mass transfer, the rate 

 goes up from 1.1 to 1.4 times in a 10-degree rise. There are many exceptions 



