text: It is important to distinguish molecularity from order of reaction. The order of reaction is an empirical quantity determined by experiment from the rate law of the reaction. It is the sum of the exponents in the rate law equation. Molecularity, on the other hand, is deduced from the mechanism of an elementary reaction, and is used only in context of an elementary reaction. It is the number of molecules taking part in this reaction.
  This difference can be illustrated on the reaction between nitric oxide and hydrogen:
  where the observed rate law is , so that the reaction is third order. Since the order does not equal the sum of reactant stoichiometric coefficients, the reaction must involve more than one step. The proposed two-step mechanism has a rate-limiting first step whose molecularity corresponds to the overall order of 3:
  Slow: 
  Fast: 
  On the other hand, the molecularity of this reaction is undefined, because it involves a mechanism of more than one step. However, we can consider the molecularity of the individual elementary reactions that make up this mechanism: the first step is trimolecular because it involves three reactant molecules, while the second step is bimolecular because it involves two reactant molecules.