Equilibrium

Some chemical reactions are equilibrium reactions That means that the FORWARD reaction is accompanied by a BACKWARD reaction.

Equilibrium
Most reactions do not go to completion The forward reaction is balanced by the backward reaction

H+ + OHCH3COOH CH3COO- + H+
e.g. H20
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Equilibrium
Chemical equilibrium is DYNAMIC i.e. is always happening Do not copy!! (Physical equilibrium does not involve chemical changes e.g. water and water vapour in a jar water is always evaporating and condensing, but nothing 3 changes).

Equilibrium
The most important thing to realise about reactions in equilibrium is that ALL reactants and products are present, in significant amounts. In reactions that are regarded as complete, no reactant is present to any significant extent. 4

Equilibrium
Characteristics of equilibrium systems
The system is closed No observable change in colour, pressure, temperature and the ratio of reactants to products Both reactants and products exist together Both forward and reverse reactions are occurring: their rates are equal

Equilibrium
Read pages 204 and 205, do exercise 16A Complete for Homework Do the equilibrium exercise (in 2.6 Chemical Reactivity) on Bestchoice for homework

Le Chateliers Principle
Mr Le Chatelier said that if anything acts to change a system at equilibrium, the system will act to minimize the effects of that change

Le Chateliers Principle
For the reaction
CH3COOH(aq)

H+(aq)

CH3COO-(aq) +

If you change any concentration, the reaction will adjust to negate that change.
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Equilibrium changes
Once a reversible reaction has reached equilibrium, it will remain at equilibrium indefinitely ---- unless changes occur which upset the equilibrium There are three types of change which have an effect

temperature, pressure, concentration

Effect of concentration changes

According to Le Chatalier, if a concentration of one component in a reaction is changed, the equilibrium will adjust to try and minimise that change.

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Effect of concentration changes

If product is removed, it will be replaced, so the reaction will proceed in the forward direction. If reactant is removed, it will be replaced by the products reverting into reactants i.e. the backward reaction proceeds. 11 etc etc

Effect of pressure changes

These apply particularly to reactions where the reactants and products are gases. Because gases can easily be compressed or expanded. Changes in pressure change the volumes of gases.
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Effect of pressure changes

You need to know that equal amounts of gases (i.e. moles) have equal volumes no matter what the gas is. So if a reaction shows differences in the number of moles of gas between reactants and products then there will be a volume change. 13

Effect of pressure changes

For example:
N2O4(g) 2NO2(g)

There are two molecules of NO2 produced for every molecule of N2O4 reacted. So the volume of the products will be twice that of the reactants. 14

Effect of pressure changes

Le Chateliers Principle implies that if pressure is changed the equilibrium will adjust to counter the change So if pressure is increased, the equation will try and reduce the pressure by reducing the volume. 15 And vice versa.

Effect of temperature changes

If a reaction is exothermic, then increasing the temperature will cause the reaction to move in the endothermic direction i.e. so that the added heat is absorbed by the reverse reaction. And vice versa
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Effect of temperature changes

N2O4(g) 2NO2(g) rH = + 54 kJ Increasing the temperature will decrease [N2O4]. Why write an explanation for this.
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Effect of catalysts
In equilibrium reactions catalysts speed up (or slow down) the reactions in both

directions.

So they have no effect on the equilibrium itself other than speeding up how rapidly the equilibrium is achieved.
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Equilibrium
You will do an experiment using iron (III) and thiocyanate The reaction is: Fe3+(aq) + SCN-(aq)
(orange) (colourless)

FeSCN2+(aq)
(bright red)

You can show that Fe3+, SCNand FeSCN2+ are always present, so it must be an equilibrium system

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