- #1
member 392791
The equilibrium constant changes with a change in temperature, I am confused as to the directions and why Qc is behaving oppositely of what I think it does
For example, my textbook says a temperature increase favors an endothermic reaction (left to right) and a temperature decrease favors the exothermic direction (from right to left). This is ambiguous to me, I am not sure what they mean by favor, if somone can clarify.
Anyway, here is an endothermic reaction
heat + A ⇔ B + C
If you increase the temperature, the heat is treated as a reactant and it shifts from left to right, that is fine
Exothermic:
A + B ⇔ C + heat
decrease the temperature, shouldn't this shift from left to right, since the heat is treated like a concentration and it is taken away, so to make up for it more is going from left to right, yet the book says right to left.
My other concern is how the equilibrium constant changes with temperature. We had a worksheet and its says heating an endothermic equilibrium system increases K. The answer given is true, and I have 2 thoughts on this.
The first is that if you have an endothermic reaction, heating it up increases the number of the reactant side, so the denominator is bigger and K is lower. However, if you increase the temperature, equilibrium would shift to the right so now the numerator is bigger, and therefore K is bigger. I think the second statement is the correct one, but just want to confirm.
It says cooling an exothermic equilibrium increases K. That mens equilibrium shifts to the right (which contradicts my textbook from above) and the numerator is now bigger, so K is bigger.
For example, my textbook says a temperature increase favors an endothermic reaction (left to right) and a temperature decrease favors the exothermic direction (from right to left). This is ambiguous to me, I am not sure what they mean by favor, if somone can clarify.
Anyway, here is an endothermic reaction
heat + A ⇔ B + C
If you increase the temperature, the heat is treated as a reactant and it shifts from left to right, that is fine
Exothermic:
A + B ⇔ C + heat
decrease the temperature, shouldn't this shift from left to right, since the heat is treated like a concentration and it is taken away, so to make up for it more is going from left to right, yet the book says right to left.
My other concern is how the equilibrium constant changes with temperature. We had a worksheet and its says heating an endothermic equilibrium system increases K. The answer given is true, and I have 2 thoughts on this.
The first is that if you have an endothermic reaction, heating it up increases the number of the reactant side, so the denominator is bigger and K is lower. However, if you increase the temperature, equilibrium would shift to the right so now the numerator is bigger, and therefore K is bigger. I think the second statement is the correct one, but just want to confirm.
It says cooling an exothermic equilibrium increases K. That mens equilibrium shifts to the right (which contradicts my textbook from above) and the numerator is now bigger, so K is bigger.
