Equilibrium distributions for systems of chemical reactions with applications to the theory of molecular adsorption

Abstract

Summary In this paper a stochastic model is set up for a certain type of reversible chemical reaction and a solution given for the equilibrium distribution; this solution is then extended to deal with any system of chemical reactions. Three different types of reaction are considered: (1) Several substances Ai react together and give a set of substances Bj. The reaction is reversible, with the substances Ai appearing only on one side of the reaction equation and the substances Bj only on the other. (2) Several different reactions involving the substances Ai and Bj take place simultaneously, but in each reaction equation the substances Ai can appear only on one side and the Bj only on the other. (3) The restriction of the sets Ai and Bj to different sides of the reaction equations is removed: any reaction involving any of the substances Ai and Bj on either side of the equation is permissible. The paper concludes with some applications of the results to problems of molecular adsorption.