Re: chemical equilibrium

In article <e_vEj.15680$4q3.6@trndny02>, Marvin <physchem@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Ron Jones wrote:
b201b402cd21c3@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
Consider the reaction:

A -> B + C

If the reactor already has substantial B and C in it, the reaction
will not proceed as far to the right as it would without B and C (Le
Chatelier).

What if the reactor has substantial C, but no B in it? Will the
reaction still proceed as though it had been devoid if both B and C?

It's too dependant on the rate constants to generalize.
A -> B + C can also be the equation for a firework / runaway reaction - the
presence of extra C will slow the reaction (by absorbing heat and reducing
the temperature rise), but it's still going to go to completion.

The heading on the original post was "chemical equilibrium".
The question was evidently about an equilibrium reaction.

Yes it was ... but the equation as written is mostly not at eqilibrium but
is reactant to products (ie implies that it goes at least mostly to
completion).
Were this really an equilibrium, it should be written more accurately as
A <=> B + C

There's still the small matters of equilibrium constants and rates of
reactions of course. :)




.

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