REVERSIBLE REACTIONS

AND EQUILIBRIUM
 REVERSIBLE REACTIONS AND
EQUILIBRIUM
 A reversible reaction is a reaction that can go in
either direction
 The sign is the symbol for a reversible change
 A reversible reaction in a closed system is at
equilibrium when the rate of forward reaction is
equal to the rate of the reverse reaction and the
concentrations of reactants and products are no
longer changing
 Characteristics of equilibrium state

 It occurs in a closed system

 Concentrations of reactants and products do not
change with time
 It is dynamic i.e reactants are continuously being
changed to products
 The rate of forward reaction equals to the rate of
backward reaction
 Procedure Observation
1.Heat 2 spatula endfuls of hydrated
copper (II) sulfate i.e CuSO4 .5H2O in a
boiling tube and leave the solid to cool
2. Heat 2 spatula endfuls of hydrated
cobalt chloride, CoCl2 .6H2O in a boiling
tube and leave it to cool
3. Add a few drops of water to the
residue in experiment 1
4. Add a few drops of water to the
residue in experiment 2
Questions:
1. Write equation for the reaction occurring in:
a)Test 1
b)Test 2
c)Test 3
d)Test 4
2. What conclusions can you draw from the 4
experiments?
Position of equilibrium:
 It tells us how far the reaction goes in favour of
reactants or products
 If the equilibrium mixture contains more products
than the reactants, the position of equilibrium is to
the right
 If the equilibrium mixture contains more reactants
than products, the position of the equilibrium is to
the left
Lechatelier’s Principle
 It states that; “if a chemical system at equilibrium
is subjected to a change in condition, the position
of equilibrium will shift in such a direction as to
oppose the change.”
Factors affecting equilibrium position
1.Change in reactant or product concentration
• If a chemical system is already at equilibrium and
the concentration of any substance in the mixture
is increased (either reactant or product), the
system reacts to consume some of that substance.
Conversely, if the concentration of the substance is
decreased, the system reacts to produce some of
that substance
Practical Activity

Activity Observation
1. Add sodium hydroxide
solution to an aqueous
solution of potassium
dichromate (VI)
2. Add dilute H2SO4 to the
solution formed during
activity 1
 2 Effect of volume and pressure changes
 Pressure changes affect only gaseous reactions
which involve a volume change
 Pressure changes do not affect solids or liquids
because they are difficult to compress
 Is a system containing one or more gases is at
equilibrium and its volume is decreased thereby
increasing its total pressure, Lechatelier’s
principle indicates that the system responds by
shifting the equilibrium position to reduce the
pressure
 A system can reduce its pressure by reducing the
total number of gas molecules (fewer molecules of
gas exert low pressure). Thus at constant
temperature, reducing volume of the gaseous
equilibrium mixture causes the equilibrium
position to shift in the direction which reduces the
number of gas
3. Effect of temperature changes
 The shift in position of equilibrium depends on
whether the reaction is endothermic or exothermic
 If the forward reaction is exothermic
e.g. N2 (g) + 3H2 (g) ⇌ 2NH3 (g) + heat,
a decrease in temperature favours the forward
reaction and an increase in temperature favours
the backward reaction
4. Effect of a catalyst
 A catalyst has no effect on the position of
equilibrium
 This is because a catalyst increases the rates of
forward and backward reactions in the same
proportion i.e activation energy for both forward
and backward reaction is decreased by the same
amount
 Implication in industry
1. Industrial preparation of ammonia:
• This is done by the Haber process
• Raw materials are nitrogen and Hydrogen
Sources of the raw materials
(a) Hydrogen is made from natural gas by reaction with steam in the
presence of a nickel catalyst
CH4 (g) + H2O (g) ⇌ CO (g) + H2 (g)
(Ni catalyst)heat
The carbonmonoxide which can poison the Ni catalyst is removed by
reaction with more steam:
CO (g) + H2O (g) ⇌ CO2 (g) + H2 (g)
(b) Nitrogen is obtained by fractional distillation of
liquid air:
Process
 Nitrogen and hydrogen are mixed in the ratio 1:3
by volume and compressed
 The compressed gases pass into a large tank
called a converter, which contains trays of iron
catalyst, a temperature of 450oC and a pressure of
200 atmospheres
 N2 (g) + 3H2 (g) ⇌ 2NH3 (g)
 About 15% of N2 and H2 are converted into
ammonia
 The mixture is passed into a cooling chamber.
Ammonia condenses here and is removed
 The unreacted N2 and H2 are recycled
Explanations of conditions
necessary for the Haber process
1.Temperature
 The conversion of N2 and H2 into ammonia is an
exothermic process.
 Therefore decreasing temperature will increase
the yield of ammonia but slows down the reaction
 450oC is a compromising temperature in which the
yield is relatively good with fast enough rate of
reaction
2. Pressure
 The forward reaction is accompanied by a
decrease in volume
 Therefore and increase in pressure will shift the
equilibrium to the side with fewer gas molecules
i.e it increases the yield of ammonia
 An increase in pressure also increases the rate of
reaction because it increases the collision frequency of
gas molecules
 But a high pressure is expensive i.e thicker pipes and
tanks need to be built to withstand this high pressure
 Therefore 200 atm is a compromising pressure in which
the yield is good at a reduced cost
3. Catalyst
 A catalyst increases the rate without affecting the
yield
INDUSTRIAL PREPARATION OF SUFURIC ACID
 Sulfuric acid is manufactured on the large scale by
the Contact process
 Sulfurdioxide must be manufactured first and this is
done by:
(a)Roasting sulfides in air
2ZnS (s) + 3O2 (g) 2ZnO (s) + 2SO2 (g)
(b) Burning sulfur in air
S (s) + O2 (g) SO2 (g)
 A mixture of sulfurdioxide and excess air is passed
over Vanadium (v) oxide catalyst at 450oC and
pressure of 2 atm to form Sulfurtrioxide
2SO2 (g) + O2 (g) ⇌ 2SO2 (g)
 Sulfurtrioxide is not absorbed directly in water as
it forms a mist of corrosive acid vapour (Acid
spray)
 Instead, the Sulfurtrioxide is absorbed in
concentrated sulfuric acid to form Oleum (fuming
sulfuric acid)
SO2 (g) + H2SO4 (l) ⇌ H2S2O7 (l)
Oleum
 The Oleum is carefully diluted with correct amount
of water to form 98% pure concentrated sulfuric
acid
H2S2O7 (l) + H2O (l) ⇌ 2H2SO4 (l)