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Is it correct to include the

concentration of water into the
concentration equilibrium
constant?
Asked 6 years, 6 months ago Modified 4 years, 11 months ago

Viewed 44k times

For the reaction

3 C3 Cl3 N3 O3 + 3 H2 O
⟶ C3 H3 N3 O3 + 3 HClO3

write the expression for Kc for

this equilibrium.

The mark scheme says it would be

[C3 H3 N3 O3 ][HClO3 ]3
Kc =
[C3 Cl3 N3 O3 ][H2 O]3

I thought Kc shouldn't include water, is

the mark scheme wrong? Or is this an
exception that water is steam instead of
liquid water?

How is one supposed to know that?

Here is another question I have just come

across. (Different question, but still
related.) Please take a look at the image
below. Now, the mark scheme has
seriously taken the concentration of H2 O
into account in (iii) and (iv).

physical-chemistry equilibrium

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edited Feb 20, 2018 at 7:34

Martin - マーチン ♦
43.7k 13 156
313

asked Mar 18, 2017 at 9:16

anonymous
89 2 4 10

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1. Reaction of Trichloroisocyanuric
acid with water:
3
Water is omitted from the equilibrium
expression only if it is a solvent in that
reaction because it is a pure liquid. We
can't increase the concentration of a pure
liquid or pure solid and hence they are
omitted from the expression.

However water in gaseous state cannot be

ignored. It would be included in the
equilibrium expression.

The above reaction is actually mixing of

Trichloroisocyanuric acid in water to work
as a disinfectant. So in the above
reaction H2O is basically pure
liquid (not gas).

Though in the expression water

concentration is mentioned but in the later
steps it would be substituted as 1. Actually
some authors tend to write the formula of
equilibrium constant including all the
reactants & products concentrations
(including pure solids and liquids) first
and then in the next step they substitute 1
in the place of concentration of pure solids
and liquids and other given numerical
concentration values in place of other
reactants and products.

So that expression is just a formula and in

the next step when you would be
substituting the values, 1 will be
substituted inplace of concentration of
water.

2. Coming on to the reaction you

have sent in the picture i.e. reaction
of aldehyde and alcohol:

Here water is not going to be

omitted.

Okay water is always not neglected from

the equilibrium expression. When I said
water concentration is assumed to be 1, I
had actually assumed water to be a
solvent. Remember if water is a solvent in
your reaction, then you can neglect the
water concentration term but if water is
not a solvent, then water term needs to be
included. In the above question, water is
being created in the process .i.e it is a
product. If water had been a reactant as
well as product (i.e. a solvent), then you
could have neglected it.

Water in the above reaction is not

present/taken from initial situation. It was
eventually formed during the reaction and
hence it is a product ( not a solvent).
Hence you need to include it in the Kc
expression.

Do you know what actually happens, when

water is a solvent, its concentration term
appears on reactant as well as on the
product side. Hence while writing Kc
expression it is cancelled out from the
numerator and from the denominator. But
if water is a product (i.e. not a solvent),
then reactant part wont contain any
concentration of water term and hence it
can't be cancelled out in Kc expression .i.e.
it will appear in the numerator of the Kc
expression.

Hope it helps.

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edited Mar 18, 2017 at 14:18

answered Mar 18, 2017 at 10:15

Yb609
1,645 9 21

Hi! Thanks a lot for your help. I should have

asked this in my question earlier, but I've
just seen it. Could you take a look at the
additional bold statement and the image
below in my question, please? Now, this one
has actually used the value of the
concentration of H2O at equilibrium in the
calculation. I think H2O here is still water
not gas. (It's a different question from
what's I asked before) Thank again!
– anonymous Mar 18, 2017 at 10:32

1 Hey Thanks for the appreciation! Read the

answer I have added. Read the second
point. You will come to understand. Hope it
helps – Yb609 Mar 18, 2017 at 14:24

What is the definition of pure liquid?

– ado sar Jan 8, 2019 at 13:02

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