For this chemical reaction network, the law of mass action gives the reaction rates are , and . Their stoichiometry gives
Here the convention for absorbs any combinatorial factor for two identical reactants. Direct differentiation gives the two conservation laws
Eliminating and leaves
For positive , use the dimensionless variables , and . With prime marks denoting differentiation in , this becomes
where
Stoichiometry 2026-10-05
Stoichiometry records reactant and product multiplicities in a chemical reaction or a chemical reaction network. The change caused by one reaction is its stoichiometric vector; multiplying by the reaction rate gives its contribution to the concentration equations. For two identical reactants the rate-constant convention absorbs any combinatorial factor.