What is the effect of decreasing the volume of a gaseous reaction mixture at equ
Practice Questions
Q1
What is the effect of decreasing the volume of a gaseous reaction mixture at equilibrium?
Shifts to the side with more moles of gas
Shifts to the side with fewer moles of gas
No effect
Increases the temperature
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
What is the effect of decreasing the volume of a gaseous reaction mixture at equilibrium?
Step 1: Understand that a gaseous reaction mixture is a mixture of gases that are reacting with each other.
Step 2: Know that equilibrium is a state where the forward and reverse reactions occur at the same rate, so the concentrations of reactants and products remain constant.
Step 3: Recognize that decreasing the volume of the reaction mixture means that the gas molecules are compressed into a smaller space.
Step 4: Understand that when the volume decreases, the pressure of the gas increases because the same number of gas molecules is now in a smaller space.
Step 5: Learn about Le Chatelier's Principle, which states that if a system at equilibrium is disturbed, it will shift to counteract the disturbance.
Step 6: Apply Le Chatelier's Principle: when the pressure increases (due to decreased volume), the equilibrium will shift to the side of the reaction that has fewer moles of gas.
Step 7: Conclude that by decreasing the volume, the equilibrium shifts to favor the side with fewer gas molecules to reduce the pressure increase.
