Effect of raising temperature on equilibrium constant?

erik-the-red

1) Sulfuryl chloride, SO2Cl2, is a highly reactive gaseous compound. When heated, it decomposes as follows.

SO2Cl2(g) <===> SO2(g) + Cl2(g)

This decomposition is endothermic. A sample of 3.509 grams of SO2Cl2 is placed in an evacuated 1.00-liter bulb and the temperature is raised to 375 K.

(a) What would be the pressure in atmospheres in the bulb if no dissociation of the SO2Cl2(g) occurred?

(b) When the system has come to equilibrium at 375 K, the total pressure in the bulb is found to be 1.43 atmospheres. Calculate the partial pressures of SO2, Cl2, and SO2Cl2 at equilibrium at 375 K.

(c) Give the expression for the equilibrium constant (either Kp or Kc) for the decomposition of SO2Cl2(g) at 375 K. Calculate the value of the equilibrium constant you have given, and specify its units.

(d) If the temperature were raised to 500 K, what effect would this have on the equilibrium constant? Explain briefly.

This was an AP Chemistry question in 1983.

I was able to do parts a-c without a problem.

Raising the temperature favors the endothermic reaction. It was given in the information that this reaction is endothermic.

But, what does "favor the endothermic reaction" mean? I want to say that there is a stress placed on the system that can be alleviated by the partial pressures of the products increasing (ie. [tex]K_p[/tex] increases) How can I say this more briefly?

GCT

the reaction requires energy to drive the foward reaction, so if you were to increase the amount of energy available to the system, you would have relatively more decomposition yield.