Question

In which direction must the reaction proceed to reach equilibrium?

K= `1.2*10^3` at `400^@C` for the reaction to produce the highly toxic nerve gas phosgene:

CO(g) +`Cl_2`(g) `->` `COCl_2`(g)

If the concentration of all 3 species is each 0.050 M, in which direction must the reaction proceed to reach equilibrium

Answer 1

The reaction will shift to the right in order to achieve equilibrium.

Explanation:

This is our equilibrium:

`CO(g) + Cl_2(g) rightleftharpoons COCl_2(g)`

From this, we can determine that the expression for `K_c` is this:

`K_c = ([COCl_2])/([CO] xx [Cl_2]) = 1.2 xx 10^3`

Right now, all of our concentrations have a concentration of `"0.050 M"`. So, the value of our `Q_c` expression would be:

`([COCl_2])/([CO] xx [Cl_2]) = ("0.050 M")/("0.050 M" xx "0.050 M") = 2.0 xx 10`

The value of `Q_c` is much less than `K_c`, which means that the concentration of products will be much higher than reactants at equilibrium.

So, to produce more products and reduce the concentration of reactants, the forward/right reaction would be favoured.