Chemical Equilibrium - How Chemical Equilibrium Works, Upsetting Our Equilibrium
condition substances reaction
Chemical equilibrium is the final condition of a chemical reaction after the reacting substances have completey reacted. Depending on the reaction, they may reach this condition quickly or slowly, but eventually they will come to a condition in which there are definite, unchanging amounts of all the relevant substances.
Chemical equilibrium is one of the most important features of chemical processes, involving everything from the dissolving of sugar in a cup of coffee to the vital reactions that carry essential oxygen to cells and poisonous carbon dioxide away from them.
Additional Topics
A chemical reaction between substance A and substance B. The reaction can be written as:
If the reaction is not one-way, as indicated by the arrow, and if C and D can also react with one another to form A and B—the reverse of the process above, this process is indicated with the arrow going the other way:
This is far from an unusual situation. In fact, almost all of the chemical r…
"Can we influence an equilibrium reaction in any way? Are we stuck with whatever mixture is left after a reaction has come to its final equilibrium condition? That is, are we stuck with so much of each substance, A, B, C and D? Or can we tamper with those "final" equilibrium amounts? Can we force the reactions to give us more of what we want (for example, C and D) and less of …
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