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In the context of chemical reactions, the rates of reaction are influenced by various factors, including temperature, surface area, and pressure. Time, however, does not directly affect the rate of reaction itself; rather, it measures the duration over which a reaction occurs.

The effectiveness of a reaction rate is contingent upon the frequency of collisions between reactant molecules, the energy of those collisions, and the orientation in which they collide. While altering temperature can provide molecules with more kinetic energy, thereby increasing collision frequency and possibly leading to an increased reaction rate, time simply indicates how long the reaction has been occurring without changing the dynamics of the reaction process itself.

As for surface area, increasing it allows more collision opportunities between reactants, speeding up the reaction. Pressure impacts gaseous reactions, where increasing the pressure generally increases the rate by bringing the gas molecules closer together, though this is not relevant for reactions that do not involve gases. In contrast, time does not bring about a change in the intrinsic factors that govern reaction rates, making it the correct choice as a factor that would not affect the rates of reaction.