Chemical Forums
Chemistry Forums for Students => High School Chemistry Forum => Topic started by: Nat360 on August 18, 2020, 06:48:35 AM
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Hi. I am a 10th grade IB chem student and this is something that I wasn't able to understand.
My understanding:
1. Equilibrium is where the concentration of products and reactant in a reaction are parallel. As described by the photo:
https://www.google.com.au/search?q=rate+of+reaction&safe=strict&sxsrf=ALeKk02IpwGv_z5mvWPcIRAuGCbBO0Fc3w:1597747508722&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjIs8qlyaTrAhXRdCsKHcjeCicQ_AUoAXoECBIQAw&biw=1280&bih=633&dpr=1.5#imgrc=NAoQQ5sMDs2wiM
2. Rate of reaction plots are exponential functions, meaning they will have a horizontal asymptote.
My question:
In a perfect situation, where the rates of reaction plots for both reactants and products are exponential functions, will there ever be an equilibrium, because the lines are never parallel?
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In theory, the point at which the two reaction rates intersect will be an "instance" of equilibrium, since rate_1 = rate_2 in that point. However, if the curves of the reactions continue to diverge after that point, there will be no other point of equilibrium.
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Equilibrium is where the concentration of products and reactant in a reaction are parallel
No, that's not how the equilibrium is defined. Concentrations can't be parallel.
Plots you have linked to refer not to concentrations, but to rates of reaction. At equilibrium forward and backward reaction rates are identical, so the concentrations don't change. Even in that case, nothing seems to be parallel :(
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Equilibrium is where the concentration of products and reactant in a reaction are parallel
No, that's not how the equilibrium is defined. Concentrations can't be parallel.
Plots you have linked to refer not to concentrations, but to rates of reaction. At equilibrium forward and backward reaction rates are identical, so the concentrations don't change. Even in that case, nothing seems to be parallel :(
To add, a reaction is said to be in equilibrium when the concentration of the reactants and the product is constant over time. That is the definition I learned back in high school, at least.
Parallel lines don't indicate an equilibrium then, because y = mx+b and y = mx+c where b =/= c are also parallel! Rather, the rate of change of the function must be 0, which would mean that the function in the interval of the equilibrium would be y = constant.
Also, why is the layout messed up today?
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Also, why is the layout messed up today?
Long links tend to break the way page is displayed.