Revision exercise: Equilibrium

1. When a mixture of ethanoic acid and ethanol is heated under reflux in the presence of an acid
catalyst, an ester is formed.
(a) Is the reaction reversible or irreversible? Explain briefly.
(b) Write a chemical equation for the reaction involved.
(c) Name the ester formed.
(d) Suggest the acid catalyst for the reaction.
(e) State TWO characteristics of dynamic equilibrium. [8M]

2. It is known that weak acids ionize slightly in water.

For example,
CH3COOH(aq) CH3COO(aq) + H+(aq)
(a) State the chemical species that can be found in the reaction mixture at equilibrium.
(b) (i) State TWO reactions that are taking place at equilibrium.
(ii) What can you say about the rates of these two reactions at equilibrium?
(c) Explain why 1 M ethanoic acid has a higher pH value than 1 M hydrochloric acid.
(d) In an experiment, a student accidentally added a small amount of HCl to the reaction mixture in (a).
He found that the pH value of the reaction mixture did not change much. Explain briefly. [8M]

3. When dinitrogen tetroxide is introduced into a sealed vessel at a certain temperature, it decomposes
to nitrogen dioxide as shown below:
N2O4(g) 2NO2(g)
(a) What can you say about the rates of the forward and backward reactions just after N 2O4(g) is
introduced into a sealed vessel?
(b) What can you say about the rates of the forward and backward reactions at equilibrium?
(c) What will happen to the reaction mixture if a hole is found in the vessel? [6M]

4 Consider the following chemical equilibrium:

2NO(g) + O2(g) 2NO2(g)
(a) Write the equations of the forward and backward reactions.
(b) Sketch a graph to show the changes in rates of forward and backward reactions against time until the
reaction mixture reaches equilibrium.
(c) A student stated that the pressure of the reaction mixture at equilibrium is not constant. Comment on
his statement. [8M]

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5. When 0.4 mol of H2(g) and 0.3 mol of I2(g) are mixed in a 1 L closed vessels, they react to form
HI(g). After 3 minutes, the reaction mixture reaches equilibrium and the vessel contains 0.5 mol of
HI(g).
(a) Write an equation to represent this state of the equilibirum.
(b) (i) Calculate the concentrations of H2(g) and I2(g) at equilibrium respectively.
(ii) Hence, sketch the changes in concentrations of H2(g), I2(g) and HI(g) against time until the
reaction mixture reaches equilibrium. [11M]

6. Consider the following reversible chemical reaction:

2NO2(g) N2O4(g)
N2O4 is a colourless gas and NO2 is a brown gas. NO2 is initially injected into a closed gas jar.
(a) Describe what you can observe when NO2 is just injected into the jar until the closed system attains
equilibrium.
(b) Describe the change in the concentration of NO2 throughout the same period of time as (a).
(c) Describe the chemical changes occurring at molecular level throughout the same period of time as
(a). [6M]

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 Revision exercise: Equilibrium (Answer)
1 (a) It is a reversible reaction. [1]
The reaction does not go to completion [1] because the ester formed reacts with water to regenerate
ethanoic acid and ethanol at the same time. [1]
(b)CH3COOH(l) + CH3CH2OH(l) CH3COOCH2CH3(l) + H2O(l) [1]
(c)Ethyl ethanoate [1]
(d)Concentrated sulphuric acid [1]
(e)Any TWO of the following:
It can only be established in a closed system. [1]/
Equilibrium can be reached from either forward or backward direction of the reversible reaction. [1]/
At equilibrium, the rate of forward reaction is equal to the rate of backward reaction. [1]/
At equilibrium, the concentrations of products and reactants remain unchanged. [1]

2 (a) CH3COOH(aq) ions, CH3COO(aq) ions and H+(aq) ions [1]

(b)(i) The two reactions are:
CH3COOH(aq)  CH3COO(aq) + H+(aq) [1]
CH3COO(aq) + H+(aq)  CH3COOH(aq) [1]
(ii) The rates of these two reactions are the same at equilibrium. [1]
(c)Ethanoic acid is a weak acid that ionizes slightly in water while hydrochloric acid is a strong acid
that ionizes completely in water. [1] Therefore, the concentration of H+(aq) in hydrochloric acid is
higher and the pH value is lower. [1]
(d)The newly added small amount of H+ reacted with CH3COO(aq) in the reaction mixture, forming
CH3COOH(aq). [1] Therefore, the H+ concentration which determines the pH value did not change
much. [1]

3(a) At the beginning, the concentration of N2O4(g) is the highest, so the rate of forward reaction is the
highest. [1] On the other hand, the concentration of NO 2(g) is zero, so the rate of backward reaction
is zero. [1]
(b)At equilibrium, the rates of forward and backward reactions are the same. [2]
(c) If a hole is found in the vessel, both the reactant and product will escape. [1] As a result, equilibrium
cannot be established. [1]

4(a) Forward reaction: 2NO(g) + O2(g)  2NO2(g) [1]

Backward reaction: 2NO2(g)  2NO(g) + O2(g) [1]
(b)

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 Reaction rate

Forward reaction

Backward reaction
Correct drawing [2] Time Correct labelling [2]
(c) His statement is incorrect. [1]
At equilibrium, the concentrations of NO(g), O2(g) and NO2(g) remain unchanged, so the pressure
should be constant. [1]

5(a) H2(g) + I2(g) 2HI(g) [1]

(b) (i) The initial concentration of H2(g) = 0.4 mol = 0.4 mol L1
1L

The initial concentration of I2(g) = 0.3 mol = 0.3 mol L1

1L

The concentration of HI(g) at equilibirum = 0.5 mol = 0.5 mol L1 [1]
1L

According to the equation, the mole ratio of H2 : I2 : HI = 1 : 1 : 2

No. of moles of H2(g) and I2(g) reacted = 0.5 mol = 0.25 mol [1]
2

∴ the concentration of H2(g) at equilibrium = 0.4 mol L1  0.25 mol L1
= 0.15 mol L1 [1]
the concentration of I2(g) at equilibrium = 0.3 mol L1  0.25 mol L1
= 0.05 mol L1 [1]
(ii)
Concentration

HI

H2
I2
Correct drawing [3] Correct labelling [3]
Time

6(a) The brown colour of the gas gradually fades and it finally becomes pale brown. [1]
(b)The concentration of NO2 drops throughout the period of time. Initially the drop is very rapid, and
then it gradually slows down. [1] Finally the concentration of NO2 stops dropping and the state of
equilibrium is reached. [1]
(c) At first, the number of NO2 molecules is large. Therefore the forward reaction occurs quickly, and
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N2O4 molecules are rapidly produced. [1] As time goes by, the number of NO 2 molecules decreases
and the number of N2O4 molecules increases. The forward reaction slows down and the backward
reaction speeds up. [1] Finally when the rate of formation of N 2O4 from NO2 equals the rate of
formation of NO2 from N2O4, an equilibrium state is established. [1]

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