CHEM 001B Lecture Notes - Chemical Equilibrium, Equilibrium Constant, Chemical Equation
Document Summary
Chemical reactions can occur in both forward and reverse directions, and when the rates of the forward and reverse reactions become equal, the concentrations of reactants and products remain constant: chemical system is at equilibrium. Mixture of reactants and products in the equilibrium state is called an equilibrium mixture. Previous chapter chemical reactions result in complete conversion of reactants and products: many reactions, however do not go to complete. All chemical reactions are reversible: irreversible reactions are simple those that proceed nearly to completion, so that the equilibrium mixture contains almost all products and almost no reactants. For such reactants, the reverse reaction is often too slow to be detected. Concentrations reach constant values, not because the reactions stop, but because the rates of the forward and reverse reaction become equal: example: N2o4 is converted to an equilibrium mixture of no2 and n2o4.
