Which affects the equilibrium constant

Your browser seems to have Javascript disabled. We're sorry, but in order to log in and use all the features of this website, you will need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Concentration, pressure, and temperature all affect the equilibrium position of a reaction, and a catalyst affects reaction rates. Changing the concentration of a reactant or product results in one of the reactions forward or reverse being favoured.

This change in reaction rate minimises the effect of the change and restores the concentration ratio between reactants and products.

There will just be more reactants and products. Changing the pressure of the system will change the ratio between the reactant and product concentrations. The equilibrium then shifts to minimise the effect of the change and restores the ratio between reactant and product concentrations.

Therefore the ratio between reactant and product concentrations will remain the same. This is a lesson from the tutorial, Chemical Equilibrium and you are encouraged to log in or register , so that you can track your progress. I hope this helped :. Re: Factors that affect the equilibrium constant Post by Hannah Lechtzin 1K » Mon Feb 01, am As far as we've learned, temperature is the only thing that will affect the equilibrium constant of a reaction. Whether the K value will increase or decrease will depend on if the forward reaction is exothermic or endothermic.

Re: Factors that affect the equilibrium constant Post by nayha a 1E » Mon Feb 01, am I believe temperature is the only factor that would change K. So if you change the temperature of a system the reaction you are observing will have another equilibrium constant entirely.

Other factors such as pressure and concentration will affect Q, so that the reaction will probably not be at K anymore and will want to return to it. I believe the only factor that affects the equilibrium constant is temperature. The easy way to remember is that temperature isn't a factor in the calculation of the equilibrium quotient. A pressure or moles increase would affect Q but temperature changes won't.

Obviously a reaction will more forwards or backwards when temperature is changed so if Q doesn't change then K has to. Re: Factors that affect the equilibrium constant Post by Jose Miguel Conste 3H » Mon Feb 15, am change of temp would affect the equilibrium constant, according to recent lessons.

Re: Factors that affect the equilibrium constant Post by Queena Chu 3E » Mon Mar 01, am The only factor that can affect the equilibrium constant is temperature. I believe the only factor that can affect the equilibrium constant is temperature. The way it changes is based on the type of reaction as K increases in an endothermic reaction if the temperature is increased and decreases if its the opposite in exothermic. If the temperature is decreased?

Would you expect the equilibrium to shift toward the products or reactants with an increase in pressure? What happens to K? If both temperature and pressure are increased? In each system, predict the effect that the indicated change will have on the specified quantity at equilibrium:. H 2 is removed; what is the effect on P I 2? Br 2 is removed; what is the effect on P NOBr? What effect will the indicated change have on the specified quantity at equilibrium? O 2 is added; what is the effect on P H 2?

Cl 2 is removed; what is the effect on P PCl 5? For each equilibrium reaction, describe how Q and K change when the pressure is increased, the temperature is increased, the volume of the system is increased, and the concentration s of the reactant s is increased. For each equilibrium reaction, describe how Q and K change when the pressure is decreased, the temperature is increased, the volume of the system is decreased, and the concentration s of the reactant s is increased. What changes in the values of Q and K would you anticipate when a the volume is doubled, b the pressure is increased by a factor of 2, and c COCl 2 is removed from the system?

What happens to the values of Q and K if the reaction temperature is increased? What happens to these values if both the temperature and pressure are increased? Would you expect K to increase or decrease if the volume of the system were tripled? Starting with an initial P COCl 2 of 1. Based on these data, in which direction will the reaction proceed after each measurement?

If chlorine gas is added to the system, what will be the effect on Q? At K, there is 0. Calculate K and K p. Is this an endothermic reaction or an exothermic reaction? How do the magnitudes of the two equilibriums compare? Would increasing the pressure improve the yield of H 2 gas at either temperature?

Hint: assume that the system initially contains 1. When 1. What happens to K if H 2 O is removed during the course of the reaction? If you begin with 2. What is the partial pressure of H 2 at equilibrium? If H 2 is removed from the system, what is the effect on the partial pressure of Br 2? Fill in the blanks and determine the missing values of Q and K indicated by?

None of the changes would affect K ; a Q doubles; b Q is halved; Q decreases. Help Creative Commons. Creative Commons supports free culture from music to education. Their licenses helped make this book available to you.

Help a Public School. Previous Section. Table of Contents. Next Section. Changes in Concentration If we add a small volume of carbon tetrachloride CCl 4 solvent to a flask containing crystals of iodine, we obtain a saturated solution of I 2 in CCl 4 , along with undissolved crystals: Equation Equation Example 16 For each equilibrium system, predict the effect of the indicated stress on the specified quantity.

The reaction will proceed to the left as written, increasing the partial pressures of SO 2 and O 2 until Q p once again equals K p. The partial pressure of SO 3 will decrease. Exercise For each equilibrium system, predict the effect that the indicated stress will have on the specified quantity. Changes in Total Pressure or Volume Because liquids are relatively incompressible, changing the pressure above a liquid solution has little effect on the concentrations of dissolved substances.

Note the Pattern Increasing the pressure of a system or decreasing the volume favors the side of the reaction that has fewer gaseous molecules and vice versa. Example 17 For each equilibrium system, write the reaction quotient for the system if the pressure is decreased by a factor of 2 i. Solution: Two moles of gaseous products are formed from 4 mol of gaseous reactants. Changes in Temperature In all the cases we have considered so far, the magnitude of the equilibrium constant, K or K p , was constant.

We can express these changes in the following way: Equation Note the Pattern Increasing the temperature causes endothermic reactions to favor products and exothermic reactions to favor reactants.

Reaction shifts to the right. Summary Three types of stresses can alter the composition of an equilibrium system: adding or removing reactants or products, changing the total pressure or volume, and changing the temperature of the system.

Key Takeaway Equilibriums are affected by changes in concentration, total pressure or volume, and temperature.

Conceptual Problems If an equilibrium reaction is endothermic in the forward direction, what is the expected change in the concentration of each component of the system if the temperature of the reaction is increased? Numerical Problems For each equilibrium reaction, describe how Q and K change when the pressure is increased, the temperature is increased, the volume of the system is increased, and the concentration s of the reactant s is increased.