At temperatures below \(500 \mathrm{K},\) the reaction between carbon monoxide
and nitrogen dioxide
$$ \mathrm{NO}_{2}(\mathrm{g})+\mathrm{CO}(\mathrm{g}) \longrightarrow
\mathrm{CO}_{2}(\mathrm{g})+\mathrm{NO}(\mathrm{g}) $$
has the following rate equation: Rate \(=k\left[\mathrm{NO}_{2}\right]^{2} .\)
Which of the three mechanisms suggested here best agrees with the
experimentally observed rate equation?
Mechanism 1 \(\quad\) single, elementary step
$$\mathrm{NO}_{2}+\mathrm{CO} \longrightarrow \mathrm{CO}_{2}+\mathrm{NO}$$
Mechanism \(2 \quad\) Two steps
$$\begin{aligned}&\text { Slow } \quad \mathrm{NO}_{2}+\mathrm{NO}_{2}
\longrightarrow \mathrm{NO}_{3}+\mathrm{NO}\\\&\text { Fast } \quad
\mathrm{NO}_{3}+\mathrm{CO} \longrightarrow
\mathrm{NO}_{2}+\mathrm{CO}_{2}\end{aligned}$$
Mechanism 3 \(\quad\) Two steps
$$\begin{aligned}&\text { Slow } \quad \mathrm{NO}_{2} \longrightarrow
\mathrm{NO}+\mathrm{O}\\\&\text { Fast } \quad \mathrm{CO}+\mathrm{O}
\longrightarrow \mathrm{CO}_{2}\end{aligned}$$