Question 15.15: The Effect of a Volume Change on Equilibrium Consider the fo...
The Effect of a Volume Change on Equilibrium
Consider the following reaction at chemical equilibrium:
2 \ KClO_3(s) \rightleftharpoons 2 \ KCl(s) + 3 \ O_2(g)
What is the effect of decreasing the volume of the reaction mixture? Increasing the volume of the reaction mixture? Adding an inert gas at constant volume?
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The chemical equation has 3 mol of gas on the right and zero mol of gas on the left. Decreasing the volume of the reaction mixture increases the pressure and causes the reaction to shift to the left (toward the side with fewer moles of gas particles). Increasing the volume of the reaction mixture decreases the pressure and causes the reaction to shift to the right (toward the side with more moles of gas particles). Adding an inert gas has no effect