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Equilibrium of NO2/N2O4

  • Page ID
    128810
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    Required Training

    Required PPE

    UC Lab Safety Fundamentals

    Lab coat, safety glasses/goggles,

    nitrile gloves

    Equipment

    Chemicals

    Sealed 250 mL bulbs of Nitrogen Dioxide

    800 mL Beakers

    Utility Clamps

    Band Clamps to fit Beakers

    Procedure:

    Four glass tubes are sealed with NO2 gas

    1. The first tube is placed in a hot water bath
    2. The second in ice-water
    3. The third in flask with dry-ice/acetone
    4. The fourth in liquid nitrogen

    NO2 is brown and N2O4 is colorless. The intensity of the brown color decreases as the temperature decreases. Therefore, a decrease in temperature yields an increase in N2O4. Equilibrium is shifted to the N2O4 side upon a decrease in temperature.

    Discussion:

    Brown 2 NO2 (g) ⇌ N2O4 (g) Colorless

    The standard enthalpy (∆Hrxn = -57.2 kJ) and the entropy (∆Srxn = -175.83 J) of reaction can be calculated from the following standard-state enthalpies of formation and standard-state entropies:

    Compound

    ∆Hf (kJ/mol)

    ∆S (J/molK)

    NO2

    33.18

    240.06

    N2O4

    9.16

    304.29

    We can then use the assumption that the temperature dependence of ∆H for this reaction is small to estimate the equilibrium constant at various temperatures.

    Temperature

    ∆G (kJ)

    Kp

    100 ⁰C

    8.4

    0.066

    0 ⁰C

    -9.2

    58

    -78 ⁰C

    -22.9

    1.3x106

    -196 ⁰C

    -43.6

    3.7x1029

    Hazards:

    Nitrogen Dioxide is a corrosive and poisonous gas; use caution when handling the glass tubes.

    SOP: clipboard_e4b742660d4788e29a0053eb769095257.pngclipboard_ee200e352ff5c25914edc7a439fcf1444.png

    Acutely Toxic – Nitrogen Dioxide

    Corrosives – Nitrogen Dioxide


    Equilibrium of NO2/N2O4 is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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