The Student Room Group

Equilibria question help! :D

Be very grateful if someone could help me with this question!

Ethanoic acid can be made by reaction: CH3OH +CO --> CH2COOH

mix of 50 mol methanol and 50 mol CO reaches eqm and a pressure of 32atm.
At 175 degrees C, the eqm partial pressure of CH2COOH is 22.2atm.

(Questions ai, ii, iii)

Another sample of 50mol methanol, 50 mol CO reached eqm at total pressure of 32 atm again, but at a LOWER temp. 93.6% methanol dissociated.

Partial pressure of CH2COOH is 28.15 atm.

-->So the partial pressure is higher at a lower temperature. The question I am stuck on is 'is the reaction endo or exothermic, explain you answer?' This is probably relatively simple and i'm just being silly, but I don't know how you would know? Or how you would explain it?

Sorry this is so long!

Thanks :tongue:
Original post by VeggieGirl
Be very grateful if someone could help me with this question!

Ethanoic acid can be made by reaction: CH3OH +CO --> CH2COOH

mix of 50 mol methanol and 50 mol CO reaches eqm and a pressure of 32atm.
At 175 degrees C, the eqm partial pressure of CH2COOH is 22.2atm.

(Questions ai, ii, iii)

Another sample of 50mol methanol, 50 mol CO reached eqm at total pressure of 32 atm again, but at a LOWER temp. 93.6% methanol dissociated.

Partial pressure of CH2COOH is 28.15 atm.

-->So the partial pressure is higher at a lower temperature. The question I am stuck on is 'is the reaction endo or exothermic, explain you answer?' This is probably relatively simple and i'm just being silly, but I don't know how you would know? Or how you would explain it?

Sorry this is so long!

Thanks :tongue:


it's exothermic.

Le Chatelier's principle
Reply 2
endothermic
as temp increases, pressure decreases to give the same yield.
Le Chatelier's
:smile:
Original post by fayemx
endothermic
as temp increases, pressure decreases to give the same yield.
Le Chatelier's
:smile:


You are wrong.

Partial pressure is like concentration. The total pressure remains the same (32atm). The equilibrium amount of product at the lower temp is greater than at the higher temp. This tells us that the reaction is exothermic.

Le Chatelier tells us that the equilibrium will shift in the direction that tends to minimise the applied change. In this case, we have lowered the temp and the position has shifted towards products, ie releasing heat.

If you don't believe me, look it up. Delta H = - 355.9 kJ / mol
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 4
A pretty fun derivation starting from ΔG°=ΔH°-T*ΔS° and ΔG°=-R*T*ln(Q) at constant T shows that ln(K2/K1)=-(ΔH°/R)*(1/T2-1/T1). Given that you actually have the numbers you need, you can calculate ΔH°, no questions asked. We have already assumed in writing the first 2 equations that ΔH°=ΔH at all T (i.e. ΔH has no temperature dependence) so having calculated ΔH° this is the value of ΔH which tells you whether your reaction is endothermic (value>0) or exothermic (value<0).

Note also that you have to have the same total P for both reactions, otherwise a correction will be needed. I don't know the specifics for that.
(edited 10 years ago)
Original post by Big-Daddy
A pretty fun derivation starting from ΔG°=ΔH°-T*ΔS° and ΔG°=-R*T*ln(Q) at constant T shows that ln(K2/K1)=-(ΔH°/R)*(1/T2-1/T1). Given that you actually have the numbers you need, you can calculate ΔH°, no questions asked. We have already assumed in writing the first 2 equations that ΔH°=ΔH at all T (i.e. ΔH has no temperature dependence) so having calculated ΔH° this is the value of ΔH which tells you whether your reaction is endothermic (value>0) or exothermic (value<0).

Note also that you have to have the same total P for both reactions, otherwise a correction will be needed. I don't know the specifics for that.


oh the fun we chemists have :h:

Quick Reply

Latest