Question

Hydrogen is manufactured on an industrial scale by this sequence of reactions:

CH4(g) + H2O(g) ⇆ CO(g) + 3H2(g)
CO(g)+ H2O(g) ⇆ CO(g) + H2(g)

The net reaction is:
CH4(g) + H2O(g) ⇆ CO(g) + 4H2(g)

Write an equation that gives the overall equilibrium constant K in terms of the equilibrium constants K1 and K2.

Answer 1

`K=K_1*K_2\\\\K=([H_2]^3[CO_2][H_2])/([CH_4][H_2O][H_2O])`

Step-by-step explanation:

Hello there!

In this case, for the given chemical reaction, it turns out firstly necessary to write the equilibrium expression for both reactions 1 and 2:

`K_1=([CO][H_2]^3)/([CH_4][H_2O]) \\\\K_2=([CO_2][H_2])/([CO][H_2O])`

Now, when we combine them to get the overall expression, we infer these two are multiplied to get:

`K=K_1*K_2\\\\K=([CO][H_2]^3)/([CH_4][H_2O]) *([CO_2][H_2])/([CO][H_2O])\\\\K=([H_2]^3[CO_2][H_2])/([CH_4][H_2O][H_2O])`

Regards!