Mass Action, Law Of

law of mass action, law stating that the rate of any chemical reaction is proportional to the product of the masses of the reacting substances, with each mass raised to a power equal to the coefficient that occurs in the chemical equation. This law was formulated over the period 1864–79 by the Norwegian scientists Cato M. Guldberg and Peter Waage but is now of only historical interest. This law was useful for obtaining the correct equilibrium equation for a reaction, but the rate expressions it provides are now known to apply only to elementary reactions. (See chemical kinetics.)