Jodelyn Brazas October 1, 2014

Gabrielle Catalan October 8, 2014

Robyn Emielle Espedido
Chemical Equilibrium: Le Chatelier’s Principle
Experiment No. 4
I. OBJECTIVES
 Describe a reversible reaction; and
 Determine the effects of changing concentration, pressure, volume, and temperature on the
equilibrium.

II. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

A. Gaseous Equilibrium

A reddish brown gas was prepared by dropping a few pieces of copper wires cut into
small pieces to an Erlenmeyer flask containing concentrated HNO3 and was allowed to evolve
for a few seconds to displace the air inside the flask. About 8 mL of the reddish brown gas was
collected using a 10-mL glass syringe and the NO2 that might have been collected in the syringe
was released by pushing the plunger until it reaches the 5-mL mark. The reaction between
copper and nitric acid is defined by this equation:

Cu (s) + 4HNO3 (aq) → Cu(NO3)2 (aq) + 2H2O (l) + 2NO2 (g)

The syringe was quickly pulled from the flask and a rubber stopper was used to enclose
tip of the syringe to prevent the gas from escaping. The volume inside the syringe was
decreased by pushing the plunger. From light brown, it turned to brown, when the plunger was
pushed from 8-mL to 5-mL, after some time the gas inside turned to light brown again.
In gaseous reactions where there is a change in the number of molecules in going from
reactants to products or vice-versa, pressure plays an important role (TutorVista.com, 2010).

Gas pressure is related to the number of gas particles in the system, more gas particles
mean more gas pressure.
 2NO2 (g)  N2O4 (g)
(red-brown)   (colorless)

In the experiment, increasing the pressure on this equilibrium system will result in the
equilibrium position shifting to reduce the pressure, that is, to the side that has the least
number of gas particles. There are two gas particles on the left hand side of the reaction and one
gas particle on the right hand side of the reaction. Increasing the pressure on this system results
in the equilibrium position moving to the right, consuming NO2 (g) and producing more N2O4 (g).
The system will become a lighter reddish brown color (ausetute.com.au).

Reducing the pressure on this equilibrium system will result in the equilibrium position
moving to the left, that is, to the side that has the most gas particles, in order to increase the
pressure. The reddish brown color of the system becomes darker (ausetute.com.au).

To summarize everything, the volume and hence the pressure are changed by moving
the plunger. Compression of the mixture temporarily increases the concentration of NO 2. When
the mixture reestablishes equilibrium, the color is lighter than that at the beginning because he
formation of N2O4 is favored by the pressure increase (Brown, 2009)

B. Common Ion Effect

Two test tubes with 5 mL of 1.0 M CH 3 COOH were prepared and each test tubes were
added with a few drops of red methyl that were then swirled to mix. After a while, one of the test
tubes with red methyl was added with a pinch of sodium acetate.

−¿ ¿ +¿¿
CH3COOH  CH 3 COO +H

−¿ ¿ +¿¿
CH3COONa → CH 3 COO + Na

Upon addition of the red methyl, a change in color was observed. The table indicates the color
changes of acetic acid.

Mixtures Color Changes

5 mL of 1 M CH3COOH colorless
CH3COOH + methyl red indicator (orange) pink
CH3COOH + methyl red indicator + NaOAc pink
(white powder)
 The common ion effect describes the changes that occur with the introduction of ions to a
solution containing that same ion (boundless.com). According to Le Chatelier’s principle, if a system
at equilibrium is disturbed by a change in temperature, pressure, or the concentration of one of the
components, the system will shift its equilibrium position so as to counteract the effect of the
disturbance (Brown, 2009).

In the experiment, both sodium acetate and acetic acid are dissolved in the same solution as
they both dissociate and ionize to produce acetate ions. Sodium acetate is a strong electrolyte so it
dissociates completely in the solution, while acetic acid is a weak acid so it only ionizes slightly.
Relating this to Le Chatelier’s principle, the addition of acetate ions from sodium acetate will
suppress the ionization of acetic acid, resulting to a shift in its equilibrium to the left and consuming
H +¿¿ ions in order to achieve equilibrium, thus decreasing its concentration.

C. Complex Ion Effect

In a 250 mL beaker, 1 mL of 0.1 M FeCl 3 and 1 mL of 0.1 M KSCN solution were mixed
together. The mixture immediately turned maroon in color. Water, 100 mL, was then added to the
mixture turning the color to a clear light orange and was then divided equally into four test tubes.

FeCl3 (aq) + KSCN (aq)  FeSCN2+ (aq) + K+ (aq) + Cl- (aq)

Mixtures Change in Color

FeCl3 Orange
KSCN Colorless
FeCl3 + KSCN Maroon
FeCl3 + KSCN + H2O Light orange

Different compounds were then added to the test tubes. Ferric nitrate was added into the
mixture in test tube 1: the color of the solution in the test tube immediately turned into light dark
orange. In test tube 2, Ammonium thiocyanate was added and a dark red colour was acquired.
Potassium chloride was added to the solution in test tube 2, the color of the solution remained the
same light orange. In the last test tube, the solution immediately became clear when Disodium
hydrogen phosphate was added.

FeCl3 + KSCN + H2O Compound Color

1 FeNO3 Dark Orange
2 NH4SCN Dark red
3 KCl No color change
 4 Na2HPO4 colorless

When a system in equilibrium is disturbed by increasing the concentration of one of the

reactants, the system will consume more of that substance so as to maintain the original state of
equilibrium. Likewise, when there is decrease in concentration of a certain reactant, the system will
consume less of the decreased substance and more of the larger substance to obtain a state of
equilibrium.

In general, Le Chatelier’s Principle states that an increase of concentration in a certain

substance at one side of the equation shifts the equilibrium of the system to produce more of the
substances at the other side of the equation.

Relating to the experiment, the increase of the concentration of either Fe 3+ (aq) or SCN- (aq)
resulted in the shift of equilibrium to the right. Resulting to the higher consumption of certain
reactants and the increased production of the product, FeSCN 2+ (aq). This entailed a change in color of
the solution, from the clear light orange color of the original or base solution to a dark orange color.

Decreasing the concentration of either Fe3+ (aq) or SCN- (aq) resulted to a shift in equilibrium to
the left, thus the larger production of Fe3+ (aq) and SCN- (aq). The color of the solution became lighter
due to the increased consumption of FeSCN2+ (aq).

Increasing the concentration of FeSCN2+ (aq) resulted in the equilibrium position to move to
the left in order to use up more of the FeSCN2+ (aq) and to produce more Fe3+ (aq) and SCN- (aq). While,
decreasing the concentration of FeSCN2+ (aq) resulted into the shift of the equilibrium of the system
to the right so as to produce more FeSCN2+ (aq) which resulted to a darker red color of the solution.

D. Chromate-Dichromate Equilibrium

The colors of chromate ion (K2CrO4) and dichromate ion (K2Cr2O7) solutions were observed.
Test tubes 1 and 2 contained approximately 1 mL of K2CrO4 while test tubes 3 and 4 contained 1 mL
K2Cr2O7. Test tubes 1 and 2 have a yellow color while test tubes 3 and 4 have an orange color. Test
tubes 1 and 3 were added with drops of 1 M NaOH while test tubes 2 and 4 were added with drops
of 1 M HCl until an obvious change in color was noticed. Table 5 summarizes the color changes that
occurred to each test tube.
 The chromate-dichromate equilibrium is defined by these equations:
2CrO42- (aq) + H2O (l)  Cr2O72- (aq) + 2OH- (aq)
Cr2O72- (aq) + H2O (l)  2CrO42- (aq) + 2H+ (aq)

Table 5. Color Changes of K2CrO4 and K2Cr2O7 with the Addition of NaOH and HCl

 Test Tube Solution Solution Added Initial Color Final Color

1 NaOH yellow yellow
K2CrO4
2 HCl yellow orange
3 NaOH orange yellow
K2Cr2O7
4 HCl orange orange

Le Chatelier's Principle states that if a system is at equilibrium and something is

changed so that it is no longer at equilibrium, the system will respond in an effort to counteract
that change. If more reactant is added, the equilibrium will shift forward in order to consume
some of the extra reactant (since there are more ions available for reaction), resulting in more
product. If some of the product is removed from the system, the equilibrium will shift forward
to produce more of that product. The equilibrium can be shifted reverse by either adding
product to or removing reactant from the system.

Le Chatelier’s Principle states that “If a stress is applied to a reaction at equilibrium, the
reaction will shift to offset the stress applied”. The addition of hydrogen ions or hydroxide ions
constitutes a stress, as does the removal of either ion, and so it can be expected that the
equilibria will shift in response to concentration changes in these ions.

In the experiment, yellow chromate ion and orange dichromate ion are in equilibrium
with each other in aqueous solution. The more acidic the solution, the more the equilibrium is
shifted to favor the dichromate ion. As nitric acid is added to the potassium chromate solution,
the yellow color turns to orange. When sodium hydroxide is added to the potassium chromate
solution, the orange color turns back to yellow. The sodium hydroxide reacts with hydrogen
ions, removing them from the solution. When one reactant is removed from an equilibrium
system, the equilibrium shifts reverse, in this case forming the yellow chromate ion again.

III. REFERENCES
 Brown, T., LeMay, H.E., Bursten, B., and Burdge, Julia. 2002. Chemistry: The Central
Science, 9th edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Woodward, P., Brown, T., LeMay, H.E., Bursten, B., and Murphy, C., 2009. Chemistry: The
Central Science, 11th edition. Pearson Education, Inc.

Chang, R.N. 1998. Chemistry. 6th edition. USA: McGraw-Hill, Inc.

Petrucci, R.H. and Harwood, W.S. 1998. General Chemistry: Principles and Modern
Applications, 7th edition. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall International.

Silberberg, M. 2006. Chemistry: The Molecular Nature of Matter and Change, 4th edition.

IV. COMMENTS

The reagents should be readily available in order to perform the experiments faster. There
was a slight pause while performing the experiments because the reagents were still not available
thus resulting to a slow performance of the activity.
The making of the post-lab for Experiment A should have been easier if the experiment was
performed by the groups (or even by the whole class) and not just assumed.