If the concentration of a reactant is increased in a system at equilibrium, what will happen according to Le Chatelier's principle?
Practice Questions
1 question
Q1
If the concentration of a reactant is increased in a system at equilibrium, what will happen according to Le Chatelier's principle?
The equilibrium will shift to the right.
The equilibrium will shift to the left.
The equilibrium will not change.
The reaction will stop.
According to Le Chatelier's principle, if a change is made to a system at equilibrium, the system will adjust to counteract that change. Increasing the concentration of a reactant will shift the equilibrium to the right, favoring the formation of products.
Questions & Step-by-step Solutions
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Q
Q: If the concentration of a reactant is increased in a system at equilibrium, what will happen according to Le Chatelier's principle?
Solution: According to Le Chatelier's principle, if a change is made to a system at equilibrium, the system will adjust to counteract that change. Increasing the concentration of a reactant will shift the equilibrium to the right, favoring the formation of products.
Steps: 5
Step 1: Understand that a system at equilibrium means the forward and reverse reactions are happening at the same rate.
Step 2: Know that Le Chatelier's principle states that if you change something in the system, it will try to counteract that change.
Step 3: Recognize that increasing the concentration of a reactant means there are more reactant molecules available.
Step 4: Realize that to counteract the increase in reactant concentration, the system will try to use up some of the extra reactants.
Step 5: Understand that this will shift the equilibrium position to the right, which means more products will be formed.
