Question

In a series of reactions, A→B→C→D, it was determined that the equilibrium constant for the second reaction (B→C) is 0.1. You would expect the concentration of C in a living cell to be:________

Answer 1

The equilibrium constant of 0.1 for the reaction B to C implies that at equilibrium, the concentration of B will be higher than that of C. However, predicting the exact concentration of C in a living cell would require additional information.

Step-by-step explanation:

If the equilibrium constant for the reaction B → C is 0.1, it suggests that at equilibrium, the concentration of reactants (B) is higher than that of the products (C). This is because the equilibrium constant (K) is the ratio of the concentrations of the products to the reactants, with each raised to the power of their stoichiometric coefficients. In this case, since K is less than 1, we expect the concentration of B to be greater than the concentration of C in the mixture at equilibrium.

The concentration of C in a living cell will depend on various factors, including the rates of the reactions that produce and consume C, as well as the concentrations of other substances in the reactions. However, with the given information and the fact that living cells are dynamic systems that rarely reach equilibrium, it is challenging to precisely predict the concentration of C without additional information about the rates of the other reactions and the cell's physiological conditions.