There are some important things to remember when calculating Kc:

 Kc is a constant for a specific reaction at a specific temperature. If you change

the temperature of a reaction, then Kc also changes.

 Pure solids and pure liquids, including solvents, are not included in the
equilibrium expression.

 Kc is often written without units.

 The reaction must be balanced with the coefficients written as the lowest
possible integer values in order to get the correct value for Kc.

What does the magnitude of Kc tell us about the reaction at equilibrium?

The magnitude of Kc can give us some information about the reactant and
product concentrations at equilibrium:

 If Kc ≥ ~1000, mostly product species are present at equilibrium.

 If Kc ≤ ~0.001, mostly reactant species are present at equilibrium.
 If 0.001 ≤ Kc ≤ 1000, a significant concentration of both reactant
and product species are present at equilibrium.

By using these guidelines, we can quickly estimate whether a reaction will

strongly favor the forward direction to make products—very large Kc—
strongly favor the backward direction to make reactants—very small Kc—

or somewhere in between.

0.001 ≤ Kc ≤ 1000, a significant concentration of both reactant and

product species should be present at equilibrium.
 Since Q = Kc, therefore the reaction is at equilibrium.

Kc = 3.4 x 10-21

Product concentration <<<< Reactant concentrations

Kc < 0.001

Considerably larger concentrations of reactants should be present at

equilibrium as compared to that of the product.