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Chemical Reactions
Chemical Reactions
Chemical Reactions
E
Chapter 7: Chemical Reactions
Reversible reactions
Experiment:
(1) On heating blue crystals of hydrated copper (II) sulfate. They turn to a white
powder of anhydrous copper (II) sulfate.
CuSO4.5H2O(s) –heat→ CuSO4(s) + 5 H2O(l)
Blue white
(2) On adding water to anhydrous copper (II) sulfate it gets hot and turns blue.
CuSO4(s) + 5 H2O(l) → CuSO4.5H2O(s)
White Blue
- So the reaction can go in either direction: it is reversible. The reaction we start with
(1 above) is called the forward reaction. Reaction 2 is the backward reaction.
- A reversible reaction is endothermic in one direction, and exothermic in the other. The
same amount of energy is transferred each time.
Chemical equilibrium:
- Equilibrium is a steady state which can be achieved during a reversible reaction.
- It is reached when the rates of the forward and reverse (backward) reactions are
equal. This does not mean the reaction has stopped when equilibrium is reached. There
are still changes at the microscopic level.
Le Chatelier’s Principle:
- Le Chatelier’s principle states: if one or more factors that affect an equilibrium as
temperature, concentration and pressure changed, the position of equilibrium shift in
the direction which reduces (opposes) the change.
- When equilibrium is disturbed, it can do one of three things. It can remain as it was
before the disturbance, or it can shift towards the forward reaction (RHS = right hand
side) or it can shift towards the reverse reaction (LHS = left hand side).
- Le Chatelier’s principle says that an equilibrium has a tendency to oppose every change
that you make to it.
Factors affect on the equilibrium state:
- The three factors which do affect an equilibrium’s position (temperature, pressure,
and concentration) will be looked at it in turn. Pressure is the only factor which is
exclusive to gaseous equilibria and catalysts do not affect the equilibrium position but
they do allow the equilibrium to be achieved in a quicker time.
1) Effect of changes in concentration:
- To see how this works look at the hydrogen iodide dissociation reaction.
- If the forward reaction is exothermic (negative ∆H) then the reverse reaction will be
endothermic (positive ∆H). The opposite is also true so if the forward reaction is
endothermic (positive ∆H) then the reverse reaction will be exothermic (negative ∆H)
For example:
Heat + N2(g) + O2(g) → 2 NO(g)
- Suppose this reaction is at equilibrium at some temperature T1 and we raise the
temperature to T2. The Le Chatelier principle tells us that a net reaction will occur in
the direction that will partially counteract this change. Since the reaction is
endothermic, a shift of the equilibrium to the right will take place.
- In most gaseous reactions, reactants and products are under the same conditions. An
increase in pressure will move the particles closer together, increasing the
concentration of all particles.
- An increase in pressure always drives the reaction in the direction of the smaller
number of moles of gas.
Rule: If the pressure goes up (increases), the equilibrium will shift towards the side of
the equation with the lower number of moles of gas.
- If the pressure decreases (volume increases), the reaction is shifted in the backward
direction (decomposition of ammonia).
- If the pressure decreases (volume increase) the reaction is shifted in the forward
direction (decomposition of sulfur trioxide)
- So the reaction reaches equilibrium faster but the new equilibrium mixture has less
ammonia: so you are worse off than before.
- If the temperature is too low, the reaction takes too long to reach equilibrium. It is
not economic. So it is best to choose a moderate temperature (about 450°C)
- When you increase the pressure, the equilibrium mixture acts to oppose this. More
ammonia forms, which means fewer molecules.
- So the amount of ammonia in the mixture has increased. Equilibrium has shifted to
the right.
4) Add a catalyst:
- Iron is a catalyst for this reaction. A catalyst speeds up the forward reaction and back
reactions equally. So the reaction reaches equilibrium faster, which saves your time, but
the amount of ammonia does not change.
Hint:
By now, you should realize that:
- A change in temperature always shifts equilibrium.
- A change in pressure will shift equilibrium only if the number of molecules is different
on each side of the equation.
- But how do these changes affect the rate? Raising the temperature or pressure
increases the rate of both the forward and backward reactions, so equilibrium is
reached faster.
- An increase in pressure forces them closer. So in both cases, the number of successful
collisions increases.