Question

What do you understand by the mechanism of a reaction?

Answer 1

A sequence of intermediate steps or elementary processes proposed to account for the overall stoichiometry of a reaction is called the mechanism of the reaction. 

It explains:

1. How the reactants are converted into products.
2. The intermediate species formed during the reaction.
3. The order in which bonds are broken and formed.
4. The rate-determining step (the slowest step).
5. The molecularity of each step.