Chemical Equilibrium: Law of mass action and equilibrium constant expression, explanation and derivation
Chemical Equilibrium and Equilibrium constant expression
Question: What is law of mass action? Derive the equilibrium constant expression for a general reaction given as follows.
Answer.Law of mass action:
This law states that the rate at which a substance reacts is directly proportional to its active mass and the rate at which reaction takes place is directly proportional to product of active masses of all reactants.
Consider a reaction in which a moles of a reactant react with b moles of reactant B to produce a c moles of product c and d moles of product d.
According to law of mass action:
\[{\color{DarkGreen} Rate \: of \, forward\: reaction \propto \left [ A \right ]^{a}\left [ B \right ]^{b}}\]
\[{\color{DarkGreen} Rate \: of \, forward\: reaction = {K}_{f}\left [ A \right ]^{a}\left [ B \right ]^{b}}\cdot \cdot \cdot (i)\]
\[ {\color{DarkGreen} Rate \: of \, reverse\: reaction = {K}_{r}\left [ C \right ]^{c}\left [ D \right ]^{d}}\cdot \cdot \cdot (ii)\]
\[Where \: K_{f}\: and\: K_{r}\: are \: rate \: constants\: for \: forward\: and \: reverse\: reaction\:,\: respectively.\]
At equilibrium state,
\[{\color{DarkGreen} Rate \: of \: forward \: reaction = Rate \: of\: reverse\: reaction }\]
\[{\color{DarkGreen} {}\frac{K_{f}}{K_{r}} = \frac{\left [ C \right ]^{c}\left [ D \right ]^{d}}{\left [ A \right ]^{a}\left [ B \right ]^{b}}}\]
\[{\color{DarkGreen} K_{c} = \frac{\left [ C \right ]^{c}\left [ D \right ]^{d}}{\left [ A \right ]^{a}\left [ B \right ]^{b}}}\]
\[Where \: K_{c}\: is\: called\: equilibrium\: constant\]and above equation is called equilibrium constant expression. Where square brackets indicate the equilibrium concentrations of substances in mole/dm3
Example: 9.2: Write equilibrium constant expression for following reactions.
Solution:According to law of mass action:
\[{\color{DarkGreen} Rate \: of \, forward\: reaction \propto \left [ {O}_{2} \right ]^{3}}\]
\[{\color{DarkGreen} Rate \: of \, forward\: reaction = {K}_{f}\left [ {O}_{2} \right ]^{3}}\cdot \cdot \cdot (i)\]
\[{\color{DarkGreen} Rate \: of \, reverse\: reaction \propto \left [ {O}_{3} \right ]^{2}}\]
\[ {\color{DarkGreen} Rate \: of \, reverse\: reaction = {K}_{r}\left [ {O}_{3} \right ]^{2}}\cdot \cdot \cdot (ii)\]
\[Where \: K_{f}\: and\: K_{r}\: are \: rate \: constants\: for \: forward\: and \: reverse\: reaction\:,\: respectively.\]
At equilibrium state,
\[{\color{DarkGreen} Rate \: of \: forward \: reaction = Rate \: of\: reverse\: reaction }\]
\[{\color{DarkGreen} {}\frac{K_{f}}{K_{r}} = \frac{\left [ {O}_{2} \right ]^{3}}{\left [ {O}_{3} \right ]^{2}}}\]
\[{\color{DarkGreen} K_{c} = \frac{\left [ {O}_{2} \right ]^{3}}{\left [ {O}_{3} \right ]^{2}}}\]
\[Where \: K_{c}\: is\: called\: equilibrium\: constant\] for above reaction.
Self Assessment Exercise 9.2
Q.2 Write equilibrium constant expression for the following reactions.
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