CONDITIONS FOR A STEADY STATE IN CHEMICAL KINETICS

A general set of inequalities involving kinetic quantitie is derived, whose validity is necassary for the establishment of a steady state in a reaction involving transient species. The stability of the steady state requires further that all the roots of a certain determinantal equation be negative (or, if complex, have a negative real portion). These criteria are applied to a number of examples, including branching chain reactions, the hydrogen bromide reaction, an oscillating reaction, a set of consecutive reactions, and a mechanism of interest in the consideration of flow processes, and the various factors affecting their application are elucidated.