laminar flow - 2026 ACF Regionals

Question

This condition names a type of chemical reactor that is characterized by parabolic velocity profiles as particles travel in parallel. For 10 points each:

[10e] What condition, largely absent in plug-flow reactions, involves minimal mixing and is contrasted with turbulent flow?

ANSWER: laminar flow [or laminar flow reactor; accept laminar regime; accept streamline flow]

[10h] For LFRs, this quantity’s namesake distribution is equal to tau squared over two times this quantity cubed and is generally a broad peak. Dye tracers are usually “pulsed” into reactors to determine this quantity.

ANSWER: residence time [or mean residence time; accept residence time distribution or RTD; accept transit time; accept retention time; accept space time; accept E(t); accept exit stage distribution; accept age distribution; prompt on time or t]

[10m] LFRs are useful for determining this other quantity using mean residence time, concentration, and the first Damköhler number. For a first-order reaction, this quantity is equal to the natural log of two divided by half-life.

ANSWER: reaction rate constant [or reaction rate coefficient; prompt on k; reject “rate”]

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Summary


California (North)	Main Site	Y	3	16.67	100%	67%	0%
Canada	Main Site	Y	10	14.00	90%	40%	10%
Florida	Main Site	Y	2	10.00	100%	0%	0%
Great Lakes	Main Site	Y	5	14.00	80%	40%	20%
Lower Mid-Atlantic	Main Site	Y	8	13.75	100%	38%	0%
Midwest	Main Site	Y	5	18.00	100%	20%	60%
Northeast	Main Site	Y	3	20.00	100%	100%	0%
Overflow	Main Site	Y	4	15.00	100%	50%	0%
South Central	Main Site	Y	1	10.00	100%	0%	0%
Southeast	Main Site	Y	6	11.67	100%	17%	0%
UK	Main Site	Y	5	12.00	80%	40%	0%
Upper Mid-Atlantic	Main Site	Y	7	11.43	86%	14%	14%
Upstate NY	Main Site	Y	3	16.67	100%	67%	0%

Data


Stanford A	Berkeley B	10	0	10	20
Berkeley A	Berkeley C	10	0	10	20
Stanford B	Berkeley D	10	0	0	10
McMaster A	McGill B	10	0	10	20
McMaster B	McGill A	10	0	10	20
Simon Fraser	Toronto Metropolitan	0	0	10	10
Toronto B	Toronto G	10	10	0	20
Waterloo A	Toronto C	10	0	0	10
Carleton University	Toronto E	10	0	0	10
Toronto F	Western C	10	0	0	10
UBC A	Guelph	10	0	10	20
UBC B	Toronto D	10	0	0	10
Waterloo B	Western A	10	0	0	10
Central Florida C	Central Florida A	10	0	0	10
Florida A	Florida C	10	0	0	10
Michigan A	Michigan State	10	0	0	10
Michigan B	CWRU A	10	0	10	20
CWRU B	Ohio State A	10	0	0	10
Ohio State B	Pittsburgh	10	10	0	20
Michigan C	Ohio State C	0	0	10	10
North Carolina C	Duke	10	0	10	20
North Carolina A	VCU	10	0	0	10
North Carolina B	Liberty C	10	0	0	10
Virginia Tech A	James Madison B	10	0	10	20
NC State B	Virginia Tech B	10	0	0	10
South Carolina A	Virginia	10	0	10	20
Wake Forest	James Madison A	10	0	0	10
William and Mary	Liberty B	10	0	0	10
Illinois B	Chicago B	10	10	0	20
Indiana A	Chicago C	10	10	10	30
Northwestern C	Indiana B	10	0	0	10
Purdue A	Northwestern D	10	10	0	20
Chicago A	Notre Dame A	10	0	0	10
Brown	Bowdoin A	10	0	10	20
MIT	Dartmouth A	10	0	10	20
Yale	Harvard A	10	0	10	20
Claremont	Carleton College	10	0	10	20
Minnesota A	Missouri B	10	0	0	10
Georgia Tech A	Washington A	10	0	0	10
Washington B	Missouri A	10	0	10	20
Texas A	Texas B	10	0	0	10
Georgia Tech D	Alabama A	10	0	0	10
Georgia Tech B	Bruin	10	0	10	20
WashU A	Georgia Tech C	10	0	0	10
Louisville A	Tennessee B	10	0	0	10
WashU B	Mississipi State	10	0	0	10
Kentucky	Tennessee A	10	0	0	10
Edinburgh A	Birmingham	10	0	10	20
Manchester	Cambridge A	10	0	0	10
Warwick A	Cardiff	10	0	0	10
Montpellier	Southampton B	0	0	0	0
Warwick B	Imperial B	10	0	10	20
Georgetown	Catholic	10	0	0	10
NYU A	Columbia A	10	10	0	20
Swarthmore	Columbia B	10	0	0	10
Columbia C	Rutgers A	10	0	0	10
John Jay	Johns Hopkins A	10	0	0	10
Maryland A	Maryland B	10	0	10	20
Vassar	Maryland C	0	0	0	0
Cornell A	Penn State	10	0	0	10
Cornell B	Binghamton A	10	0	10	20
RIT	Cornell C	10	0	10	20