Timescales rapid flow techniques

Because many biochemical reactions are fast, we need to know how to measure their rates. Rapid mixing and stopped-flow techniques In the laboratory 6.1) are ideal for studying events on a millisecond timescale, such as some... 

Kinetic experiments are performed in two different ways. In one an initial disequilibrinm exists between two or more reactants, which after being rapidly mixed, combine to react toward equilibrium see Rapid Scan, Stopped-Flow Kinetics). Ideally, the mixing time is short with respect to the timescale of the reaction or actually with respect to the formation of intermediates. In contrast, in the relaxation experiment, the reactants are together and in equilibrium, and the whole system is instantaneously displaced from equilibrium. Subsequently, the system relaxes to the same or a new equilibrium state. Table 1 suimnarizes the approximate time resolution of various commonly applied mixing and relaxation techniques. The table indicates the superiority of the relaxation methods with respect to time resolution, mainly due to the development of ultrafast lasers. Mixing liquids on the (sub)microsecond time scale appears to present an important experimental barrier. 

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