Different Approaches to Analyzing a Simple Chemical Reaction

Abstract

In this chapter, the dynamics of the chemical reaction $A \rightleftharpoons B$ are analyzed from the perspectives of macroscopic chemical kinetics, thermodynamics, and stochastic processes. The main objective is to show that all these approaches are not exclusive but complementary, and that properly combining them through a fourth unifying approach (the one I call the energy landscape approach) allows a deeper understanding of the system dynamic behavior. After finishing this chapter not only the reader shall understand the different approaches to analyzing the dynamics of a chemical reaction, but will also obtain some basic notions of stochastic processes. Namely, the chemical master equation and Gillespie’s algorithm.