Question

What does it mean for a chemical reaction when the equilibrium constant is a) zero, b) one, and c infinity?

Answer 1

Answer: a) the reaction has not occurred

b) the reaction is in equilibrium

c) the reaction is very much product favored

Explanation:

Equilibrium constant is the ratio of the concentration of products to the concentration of reactants each term raised to its stochiometric coefficients.

For a general chemical reaction:

`aA+bB\rightarrow cC+dD`

The expression for
`K_(eq)` is written as:

`K_(eq)=([C]^c[D]^d)/([A]^a[B]^b)`

There are 3 conditions:

When
`K_(eq)=0`; the reaction has not occurred, the concentration of products is zero

When
`K_(eq)=1`; the reaction is in equilibrium, the concentration of products is equal to that of reactants

When
`K_(eq)=\infity`; the reaction is very much product favored, the concentration of products is much higher than that of reactants

From the above expression, the equilirbium constant is directly dependent on product concentration. Thus, more is the concentration of product, more will be the equilibrium constant.

The highest values of
`K_(eq)` will favor the product more.