Final answer:
Removing oxygen gas from an exothermic reaction at equilibrium will cause a shift in equilibrium towards the production of more O2, but it will not change the equilibrium constant K. The K value only changes with temperature alterations, not by removing or adding reactants or products.
Step-by-step explanation:
When considering the exothermic reaction 2 O3 (g) ⇌ 3 O2 (g), removing some of the oxygen gas (O2) will not increase the numerical value of the equilibrium constant (K). In fact, according to Le Chatelier's Principle, if you remove a product from a system at equilibrium, the equilibrium will shift to the right (towards the formation of more O2), thus producing more O2 to compensate for the loss. However, the equilibrium constant K itself is a specific ratio of the concentrations (or partial pressures) of the products to the reactants, each raised to the power of their stoichiometric coefficients, at a particular temperature. Therefore, K remains constant unless the temperature changes.
The equilibrium constant for an exothermic reaction typically decreases with an increase in temperature because applying heat essentially adds to the product side of a reaction, causing the equilibrium to shift towards the reactants to absorb the excess heat. For endothermic reactions, the opposite is true, as they absorb heat; increasing the temperature increases the equilibrium constant because the system shifts to use up the additional heat.