where C is the molar concentration of a reactant in an elementary reaction,
c is the molar stoichiometric coefficient for that reactant, k is the
absolute forward rate constant, and K is the equilibrium constant. The
saturation index β ≡ Q / K is defined so that β N 1 indicates supersaturation,
β = 1 indicates equilibrium, and β b 1 indicates undersaturation
with respect to the forward reaction. Therefore, the same general form
as Eq. (2) can embrace a wide range of rate behavior.