Experiment 3:

Le Châtelier’s Principle
Cabajar, Jairus B.,
Dionisio, Nicole Anna Marie H.
Group 3
INTRODUCTION

“If an external
stress is applied to a
system at equilibrium,
the system adjusts in
such a way that the
stress is partially offset
as it tries to reestablish
equilibrium”

—Henri Le Châtelier.

At equilibrium, both products and reactants

are present in the reacting system.
INTRODUCTION stressors
Changes in Concentrations
An increase in the concentration of reactants, or
decrease in the concentration of products, causes a
right shift. On the other hand, an increase in the
concentration of products, or decrease in
concentration of reactants, causes a left shift.
Basically, increased concentrations are used up
while decreased concentrations are filled up.
INTRODUCTION stressors
Changes in Pressure and Volume
Changes in pressure usually only affect reacting
species in the gas phase. By the ideal gas law,
pressure is inversely proportional to volume.
Generally, an increase in pressure (decrease in
volume) causes the reaction to shift to the side with
fewer moles of gas; on the other hand, a decrease in
pressure (increase in volume) causes it to shift to the
side with more moles of gas. Whenever there is equal
number of moles on both sides, a change in pressure
(or volume) has no effect.
INTRODUCTION stressors
Changes in Temperature
Only a change in
temperature can alter ∆H0 ∆T Shift
the equilibrium
constant. + + +
(forward)
In general, a + - -
temperature increase (reverse)
favors an endothermic - + -
reaction, and a
temperature decrease - - +
favors an exothermic
reaction.
INTRODUCTION stressors
The Effect of Catalyst
A catalyst affects the activation energy of the
forward and reverse reaction to the same extent.
Adding a catalyst to a reaction will simply cause the
mixture to reach equilibrium sooner (in the case of a +
catalyst).
The presence of a catalyst does not alter the
equilibrium constant, nor does it shift the position of an
equilibrium system.
EXPERIMENTATION
and RESULTS
 0.1 M HCl H2 O 0.1 M K4Fe(CN)6 0.1 M NaNO3

0.1 M Cu(NO3)2

0.1 M NH4OH 0.1 M NaOH 1ml of solution + 0.50ml

water subjected to water
DISCUSSION

For the first solution in part A, this

equilibrium was formed:

Cu+2(aq) + 4NH3(aq) Cu(NH3)4+2(aq)

sky blue colorless dark blue
DISCUSSION
For the systems A and B, similar concepts
may be applied. By increasing the concentration
of reactants, the reaction shifts to the right
forming more products, causing the solution to
become darker. In the A depression, when Cu+2
dissociated from the added reagent, Cu(NO3)2,
the number of effective collisions between the
reactants increased. The same is true in B
depression where NH3, from the reagent, was
added to the solution. Both of these favor the
formation of products.
DISCUSSION
In the system C, a brownish-red precipitate
was formed after adding 0.1 M K4Fe(CN)6.
In this system, as the reagent dissociated
to K+1 and Fe(CN)6-4, the ferrocyanide ion
reacted with the Cu+2. By consuming the
copper ion, the reaction counteracts by
shifting to the reactant’s side. The
formation of Cu2Fe(CN)6 caused the
solution’s color.
DISCUSSION
For system F, based on the experiment,
the solution became darker after adding
0.1 M Na(NO)3. Theoretically, the said
reagent must not affect the reactant. After
dissociating to Na+1 and NO3-1, none of
these ions may significantly disturb the
equilibrium. A contamination may account
to the obtained results.
DISCUSSION
For system D, HCl, an acid was added to
the original solution. H+ from the
dissociation will react with NH3, forming
NH4+, decreasing the reactant. In order to
conform to this, the reaction shifts to the
reactant side, resulting to a lighter color.
For system E, a base, NaOH, was added.
When OH- dissociated from the reagent, it
reacted with Cu+2, like that of system D, the
reaction shifted to the left.
DISCUSSION
In the case of system G, the results
suggest that it is endothermic because it
became lighter. But since the reaction is
known to be exothermic, decreasing the
temperature must cause it to shift forward,
thus turning the solution darker. Again, a
contamination may account to this.
DISCUSSION
Summary of how the reaction will theoretically adjust to the different applied stressors.

System Applied stress Reaction shift

A 0.1 M Cu(NO3)2 forward
B 0.1 M NH40H forward
C 0.1 M K4Fe(CN)6 Reverse/backward
D 0.1 M HCl Reverse/backward
E 0.1 M NaOH Reverse/backward
F 0.1 M Na(NO)3 No shift
G Decrease in temp. Forward
DISCUSSION
For the part B of the experiment, the
K2CrO4 turned from yellow to orange when
HCl was added to it. And when NaOH was
added, the solution became lighter, almost
the same as that of the original. For this
part of the experiment, this equilibrium
was formed:

2CrO4-2 + 2H+  Cr2O7-2 + H2O

yellow orange
DISCUSSION
When HCl was added, the solution became
acidic. As HCl dissociated to H+ and Cl-, the
hydrogen ion reacted with CrO4-2 and Cr2O7-2 (an
orange solution) was formed. It can be
concluded that Cr2O7-2 is predominant in an acid
solution due to the H+ from the dissociation of an
acid. Next, a base, NaOH, was added. When
OH- dissociated from the base, it reacted with
H+, consuming it and at the same time forming
more water which is part of product’s side. By
this, the reaction shifts to the left, in a basic
medium, Cr04-2 is dominant.
DISCUSSION
For the last part of the experiment, when
Pb(NO3)2 was added to K2CRO4, a yellow
precipitate was formed. This equilibrium was
formed:

CrO4-2 + Pb+2  PbCrO4

yellow yellow precipitate

And when HCl was added to the solution, it

became darker—from yellow to orange. The
precipitate also lessened.
DISCUSSION
When the reaction was subjected to
HCl, similarly to system H, H+ reacted with
Cr04-2 forming Cr2O7-2 causing it to change
color. This can be verified by the decrease
of the precipitate, the CrO4-2 was
consumed causing the reaction to shift to
the reactant’s side.
CONCLUSION

Several factors affect the shift of an

equilibrium. Changes in concentration,
pressure and volume can alter the
equilibrium concentrations of the reacting
mixture, but not the equilibrium constant
as long as the temperature remains
constant. Only a change in temperature
changes the value of the equilibrium
constant.
RECOMMENDATION
We recommend changing the system being studied
in this experiment. Observing the changes in color—
which is basically the core procedure of the experiment
—caused confusion. The light blue color of the solution
made it hard to see if the solution became lighter or not.
Systems that are expected to be darker, on the other
hand, were equally confusing due to the minimal
darkening of the solution.

Proper handling of the reagents, too, must be

observed, several deviations from the theoretical results
is probably due to contaminations.
RECOMMENDATION
Finally, to fully understand the principle,
the effect of pressure (and volume) as a
stressor must also be conducted. But
since these kinds if experiments are in
need of tremendous amount of effort and
experience, at least allow the students to
see how the concept works for the sake of
better understanding.
SOURCES
Chang, Raymond. (2008). General Chemistry: The Essential
Concepts, Fifth edition. New York: The McGraw-Hill
Companies, 2008.

Committee on General Chemistry (2007) Learning Modules in

General Chemistry 2. University of the Philippines Manila.

"Henri Louis Le Châtelier." Microsoft® Encarta® 2007 [DVD].

Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2006.
Silberberg, M.S. (2006). Chemistry: The molecular nature of matter
and change (4th edition). New York: The McGraw-Hill
Companies, 2008