Question

The reaction that you carried out is an equilibrium reaction, with the equilibrium favoring the starting materials. However, you recovered a high yield of the products. Explain this apparent contradiction.

Answer 1

See explanation

Step-by-step explanation:

One of the ways of driving a reaction towards the forward direction is the removal of one of the products. This will shift the equilibrum towards the right hand side.

Hence, by distilling one of the products from the system, the equilibrum was shifted towards the right hand side and a high percentage of product is obtained.