Oxygen uptake by the blood is faster than oxygen uptake by water because of the reaction of oxygen with hemoglobin. Many chemists have dreamed of inventing a new compound capable of fast, selective reaction with oxygen. Aqueous solutions of this compound could then be used as the basis of a process for oxygen separation from air. Such a compound would complex with oxygen at low temperatures but would give up the oxygen at high temperatures. In an experiment with one potential compound, a researcher observed that the oxygen absorption flux in dilute aqueous solution of this compound at \(298 \mathrm{~K}\) was 2.5 higher than the absorption flux with pure water at the same temperature, for a film thickness of \(0.5 \mathrm{~mm}\).

(a) Calculate the corresponding value of the Damkohler number.

(b) Estimate the reaction rate constant, assuming first-order kinetics.