The Student Room Group

equilibriums in reversible reactions

hi, so im really struggling with understanding chemical equilibriums in triple gcse chemistry, can anyone help?


for example;

H₂O + C CO + H₂
here, the forward reaction is endothermic, what would happen to the equilibrium if the temperature was increased?
what would happen to the amount of H₂ formed if the temperature was increased?

the equilibrium shifts depending on the conditions that have been altered in order to achieve a sort of balance, right?


if anyone could help at all, i'd really appreciate it, thank you!! :smile:
Reply 1
Original post by asbestos99
hi, so im really struggling with understanding chemical equilibriums in triple gcse chemistry, can anyone help?


for example;

H₂O + C CO + H₂
here, the forward reaction is endothermic, what would happen to the equilibrium if the temperature was increased?
what would happen to the amount of H₂ formed if the temperature was increased?

the equilibrium shifts depending on the conditions that have been altered in order to achieve a sort of balance, right?


if anyone could help at all, i'd really appreciate it, thank you!! :smile:


increase in temp favours the endothermic reaction while a decrease in temp favours the exothermic reaction. Think of it as increasing in temp means that the temp is 'entering' the reaction and a decrease in temp is 'exiting' the reaction. As the forward reaction is endothermic, this means that the yield of H2 and CO will increase while the yield of H2O and C will decrease:biggrin:
Reply 2
Original post by imfinshed.
increase in temp favours the endothermic reaction while a decrease in temp favours the exothermic reaction. Think of it as increasing in temp means that the temp is 'entering' the reaction and a decrease in temp is 'exiting' the reaction. As the forward reaction is endothermic, this means that the yield of H2 and CO will increase while the yield of H2O and C will decrease:biggrin:


thank you so much!!
the idea of energy "entering" and "exiting" the reaction never really clicked at school, you've just made this a whole lot easier to understand, i think i get it!
thank you for taking the time to reply :biggrin:
Reply 3
Original post by asbestos99
thank you so much!!
the idea of energy "entering" and "exiting" the reaction never really clicked at school, you've just made this a whole lot easier to understand, i think i get it!
thank you for taking the time to reply :biggrin:


no problem!

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