Topic 4.3: Chemical equilibria II Topic 4.3: Chemical equilibria II Topic 4.3: Chemical equilibria II Topic 4.

3: Chemical equilibria II

a)
Partial pressure: the fraction of the total pressure/ (the pressure
exerted by the gas if it were alone) within a fixed volume at a constant
temperature.
Concentration: the amount/number of moles of substance within a fixed
volume

b)
Kc expressions should include square brackets which implies
concentration in terms of mol dm
3

Kp expressions should not include square brackets as these brackets have
a specific meaning for Kc, round brackets are acceptable.

Example:
Expressions for Kp and Kc have products over reactants, the number of
moles is raised to the power, and addition becomes multiplication. (See
part (e) for Kp).

2SO2(g) + O2(g) 2SO3(g)

Kc = [SO3]
2

[SO2]
2
X [O2]

Substitute the concentration values and calculate the figure.
(According to the laws of indices, the powers are subtracted in a division.)
Now to find the units, cancel out the 2 powers leaving 1/mol dm
-3
which
gives mol
-1
dm
3

*Note: if the powers cancel out, then it must be stated that there are no
units otherwise these creeps will take a mark off you*

c)
Kp and Kc expressions for heterogeneous equilibria do not include values
for solid and liquid phases. So they will count as 1 in the expression, not
zero.





d)
Catalysts do not affect the position of the equilibrium; they only help
attain equilibrium quicker by creating an alternative route by lowering the
activation energy (see unit 2 for more).

e)
A Kp example for simple binary gaseous dissociation of dinitrogen
tetroxide:

N2O4(g) 2NO2(g) at 340K, Kp = 3.90atm

If, at the equilibrium position, the partial pressure was to be 0.80atm,
calculate the partial pressure of the N2O2 and the total pressure.

Kp = (pNO2)
2
/ (pN2O4)
3.9 = (0.80)
2
/ (pN2O4)
(pN2O4) = (0.80)
2
/ 3.9
= 0.162atm
Total pressure = 0.164 + 0.80 = 0.96atm

f)
Temperature is the only factor which can affect the value of the
constant. For example:
2SO2(g) + O2(g) 2SO3(g) (+250 KJ mol
-1
)

If temperature increased, this would move the equilibrium to the
endothermic side (right). So if this was put into an expression, the top
number would be larger than the bottom number, making the Kp/Kc value
greater. Here we can say an increase in temperature will increase the
constant value.

In a Kp expression, the p is the partial pressure (i.e. (pNO2)). To find
the partial pressure you divide the number of moles of one component by
the total number of moles of all the components, this gives the mole
fraction. Then for partial pressure you multiply this figure by the total
pressure. (Usually the moles are given, if not, use x or percentages)
For Kc expressions- concentration = moles/volume.

This should give you a rough idea of topic 4.3, it is brief, so if you have
any problems ask my self (gordon2002), widowmaker or snmichaels (Im
sure they wouldnt mind!)