An undesired contaminant is present in a fluid. The contaminant is observed to de- grade spontaneously, so a suitable treatment technique is simply to detain the fluid for a certain period before use. To quantify degradation kinetics, a series of experiments was conducted in a well- stirred batch reactor. Each experimental run was conducted for a one-hour period. The contaminant concentration was measured at the beginning and at the end of each run. Different starting concentrations were used. The data are reproduced in the table below. Run Initial concentration, C(0) Final concentration, C(1 h) 1.0 mg/L 10 mg/L. 100 mg/L 0.7 mg/L 2.0 mg/L 2.4 mg/L 2 3 Determine (a) the reaction rate law and (b) the rate constant for the degradation of this species.