The book is a short primer on chemical reaction rates based on a six-lecture first-year undergraduate course taught by the author at the University of Oxford. The book explores the various factors that determine how fast or slowly a chemical reaction proceeds and describes a variety of experimental methods for measuring reaction rates. The link between the reaction rate and the sequence of steps that makes up the reaction mechanism is also investigated. Chemical reaction rates is a core topic in all undergraduate chemistry courses.

Table of Contents: Preface / Acknowledgments / Author Biography / 1. Elementary Reactions / 2. Rate Laws: Relating the Reaction Rate to Reactant Concentrations / 3. Determining the Rate Law and Obtaining Mechanistic Information from Experimental Data / 4. Experimental Techniques for Measuring Reaction Rates / 5. Introduction to Complex Reactions / 6. Using the Steady-State Approximation to Derive Rate Laws for Complex Reactions / 7. Chain Reactions and Explosions