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13.1: Prelude to Chemical Equilibrium

Last updated

Jul 5, 2022
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- 13: Chemical Equilibrium
- 13.2: Chemical Equilibrium

Theodore Chan
Fullerton College

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Imagine you are stranded in a rowboat in the middle of the ocean. Suddenly, your boat springs a small leak, and you need to bail out water. You grab a bucket and begin to bail. After a few minutes, your efforts against the leak keep the water to only about half an inch, but any further bailing doesn't change the water level; the leak brings in as much water as you bail out.

You are at a dynamics equilibrium. Two opposing processes have reached the same speed, and there is no more overall change in the process.

Chemical reactions are like that as well. Most of them come to an equilibrium. The actual position of the equilibrium—whether it favors the reactants or the products—is characteristic of a chemical reaction; it is difficult to see just by looking at the balanced chemical equation. But chemistry has tools to help you understand the equilibrium of chemical reactions—the focus of this chapter.

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