equilibrium essay

7/25/2019 Equilibrium Essay

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Most solutions or reactions that exist, exist in a dynamic equilibrium. A

dynamic equilibrium is a reaction that is reversible and after a certain period

of time the concentrations of the products and the reactants remain equal,

this is usually shown in an equation using a double arrow instead of a single

one. However even though the concentrations remain the same does not

mean that no reactions are taking place, in fact if a reaction is in equilibrium

it just means that there is no net change, which means the amount of

reactant that is being use up is equivalent to the amount of product that is

changing back to the reactant. nce a system reaches equilibrium and the

concentration is set then one can calculate the equilibrium constant which is

a ratio between the products over the reactants, also using coe!cients as

exponents. "his general principle of a reaction trying to maintain equilibrium

is called #e $hatelier%s &rinciple.

A perfect example that can be used for #e $hatelier%s &rinciple is a

reaction between H' and (' gas molecules, assuming that the reaction is

occurring at a constant "emperature, &ressure, and )olume, since these

factors and a change in concentration can o*set the equilibrium thereby

creating another one. However in the original situation there will be only H'

and (' gas molecules +oating around. ince these two molecules are +oating

around they will interact with one another and once the two molecules will

-hit- each other at the right angle and speed they will then interact with one

another and therefore create H( molecules. ince these are all gas particles

nothing will be explicitly seen and no observed change will seem to take


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place, however if this reaction were to take place using hydrogen peroxide,

by using an indicator we would be able to see the reaction take place by the

color change. n the microscopic level what you may not see is that the H'

molecules and the (' molecules are reacting amongst themselves and very

slowly creating more and more H( particles. However the more H( particles

that are created also begin to react with one another and simultaneously the

reaction will begin to reverse itself but not at the same rate. ventually after

enough time passes and enough H( is created the rate at which H' and ('

react with another to create H(, H( will react with one another and recreate

H' and (' molecules again.

All dynamic equilibrium reactions in one way or another prefer stability

and therefore that is when the forward reaction equals the reverse reaction,

this also means that once the reaction reaches an equilibrium state it will not

shift and go out of the state unless it is forced to or stress is applied by an

outside force. "his essentially means that the reaction will be exactly the

same /in the sense of the same concentration and rate0 ' minutes after

equilibrium is reached or '1 minutes after it is reached. "his is essentially

what the de2nition of the state means the rate at which the reaction moves

forwards it moves back as well which means it is in a perpetual state of

endlessness.

ven though the equation we are given may seem broad a lot of

information can also be determined from the chemical equation itself

H'/g3('/g0456'H(/g0. 7irstly you can determine that all the molecules that


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are used are gasses and therefore they have pressure, which if turned into

activities can be used to 2nd the equilibrium constant. econdly you can

see8assume that by using 9 mole of H' and 9 mole of (' you can create '

moles of H(, which in the overall reaction two moles of reactant created '

moles of product. Also one can determine the rate at which these reactions

take place. "his information can help us tremendously with our reactions that

occur.

:ow assuming that instead of having ' di*erent molecules prone to

interacting with each other interact to form a product some people may

wonder, if you start with just the products will there be reaction at all or will

the process essentially be -completed-;


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determine how the reaction began. Meaning that using the two examples

and observing them side by side, if one were to observe them once the

reactions have reached equilibrium they would be indistinguishable from one

another, assuming of course that the concentrations are the same. =eaching

a state of stability is extremely important for a reaction to take place. >nless

the reaction is energetically favorable it will not occur. "his means that

despite any of the stresses that may be applied to a system in equilibrium it

will also attempt to resolve the stress by reacting towards more stability.

equilibrium essay

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