How changing concentration, temperature or pressure moves the position of an equilibrium, and what that does to the yield.
What you will learn
- Use Le Chatelier's principle
- Predict the effect of concentration and temperature
- Count moles of gas to predict the effect of pressure
- Say what a catalyst does and does not change
The system pushes back
Le Chatelier's principle: if the conditions of a system at equilibrium change, the position of equilibrium moves to counteract the change.
- "Moves to the right" means more products: the yield goes up.
- "Moves to the left" means more reactants: the yield goes down.
Concentration. Add more of a reactant and the position moves right to use it up. Remove a product as it forms and the position moves right to replace it.
The rest of this lesson and its 15 practice questions are locked.
In this lesson
- The system pushes back
- Temperature
- Pressure: count the gas molecules
15 practice questions, marked as you go; about 25 minutes in all.
Key terms
Concentration, Endothermic, Exothermic, Fewer molecules of gas
In this unit: Rates of reaction and equilibrium
Measuring and graphing rates, collision theory and the factors that change a rate, the rates required practical, reversible reactions and how conditions move an equilibrium.