For a hypothetical reaction: x2 + y2 → 2xy, the proposed mechanism is: (i) x2 → x + x (Fast) (ii) x + y2 → xy + y (slow) (iii) x + y → xy (Fast) The order of reaction will be:

Explanation

The overall rate of a reaction is determined by the slowest step in the mechanism, which is often referred to as the rate-determining step.In this proposed mechanism, step (ii) is the slow step. The rate law for this step would be:Rate = k × [x] × [y2]This indicates that the rate of the reaction depends on the concentrations of both x and y, raised to the power of 1 for each, making it a first-order reaction with respect to both x and y.Since the reaction is first-order with respect to both x and y, the overall reaction order is the sum of the individual reaction orders, which gives us a total reaction order of 1 + 1 = 2.So, option D, "2," is the correct choice.