How is the value of the equilibrium constant useful?

1 Answer
Nov 26, 2014

The value of the equilibrium constant tells us the extent to which the reactants or products predominate in a system which is at equilibrium.

Consider a general case :

#aA+bBrightleftharpoonscC+dD#

The expression for the equilibrium constant in terms of concentration is:

#K_c=([C]^(c)[D]^(d))/([A]^(a)[B]^(b))#

You can see that if the position of equilibrium lies to the right then #[C]# and #[D]# will be large and [A] and [B] will be small giving a large value of #K_c#.

#K# only depends on temperature so this must always stated when quoting any values.