Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Encyclopedia of Astrobiology pp 1–2Cite as

Rate Equation Models

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:

  • 36 Accesses

Definition

Rate equation models are chemical simulations in which the rate of change of the concentration of each molecule in the simulation is written in terms of the rates of formation and depletion. The integration of the coupled differential equations leads to the concentration of each species as a function of time. Large numbers of chemical reactions, typically greater than 1000, are needed to simulate the chemistry of interstellar clouds in the gas and on the surfaces of dust particles.

Overview

Rate equation models consist of kinetic differential equations, which equate the time derivative of the concentration of each molecule in the model with the sum of their rates of gain and loss (Wakelam et al. 2010). The gain and loss terms can involve bimolecular collisions between species or can involve bombardment by photons and external cosmic rays leading to ionization and dissociation. As an example, consider a gas-phase process in which a molecule C is formed by a reaction between...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

References and Further Reading

  • Garrod RT, Vasyunin AI, Semenov DA, Wiebe DS, Henning T (2009) A new modified rate approach for gas-grain chemistry. Comparison with a unified large-scale unified Monte Caro calculation. Astrophys J 700:L43–L46

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Wakelam V, Smith IWM, Herbst E et al (2010) Reaction networks for interstellar chemical modelling: improvements and challenges. Space Sci Rev 156:13–72

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

    Eric Herbst

Authors
  1. Eric Herbst
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eric Herbst .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Labo. d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux (LAB), Observatoire Aquitain des Sciences de l'Univers (OASU), Floirac CX, France

    Muriel Gargaud

  2. Astronomy Department, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA

    William M. Irvine

  3. Centro de Biología Molecular, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Ricardo Amils

  4. Geophysical Lab., Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, District of Columbia, USA

    Henderson James Cleaves

  5. Dépt. Sc. de la Terre et de l’Atmosphère, Université du Québec, Montréal, Montreal, Québec, Canada

    Daniele Pinti

  6. Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), Inst. Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial, Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid, Spain

    José Cernicharo Quintanilla

  7. Centre National d'Etudes Spatiale (CNES) DPI/E2U, Paris CX, France

    Michel Viso

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Herbst, E. (2018). Rate Equation Models. In: Gargaud, M., et al. Encyclopedia of Astrobiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_5386-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_5386-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-27833-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27833-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Physics and AstronomyReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation