La Chatelier’s Principle

Question 1

What is La Chatelier’s principle?

Answer 1

•this is the idea that if you change the conditions of a reversible reaction at equilibrium the system will try to counteract that change
•it can be used to predict the effects of any changes you make to a reaction system

Question 2

What happens if you increase the temperature of a reversible reaction?

Answer 2

•The equilibrium will move in the endothermic direction to try and decrease it
•This means you’ll get more products for the endothermic reaction and fewer products for the exothermic reaction

Question 3

What happens if you decrease the temperature of a reversible reaction?

Answer 3

•the equilibrium will move to the exothermic direction to produce more heat
•This means you’ll get more products for the exothermic reaction and fewer for the endothermic one

Question 4

What happens if you increase the pressure of a reversible reaction?

Answer 4

•the equilibrium tries to reduce it by moving in the direction where there are fewer molecules of gas

Question 5

What happens if you decrease the pressure of a reversible reaction?

Answer 5

•The equilibrium tries to increase it by moving in the direction where there are more molecules of gas.

Question 6

What happens if you change the concentration of a reversible reaction?

Answer 6

•the system will no longer be at equilibrium so it responds by bringing itself back up to an equilibrium again

Question 7

What happens if you increase the concentration of a reversible reaction?

Answer 7

It will try to decrease it by making more products

Question 8

What happens if you decrease the concentration of a reversible reaction?

Answer 8

It will try to increase the concentration by reducing the amount of reactants