KEY

Name: ___________________________________________________________ Period: _________

Lecture 35
Le Chatelier’s Principle (AP Chemistry Topics 7.9, 7.10)
Student Notes

Enduring Understanding Learning Objective(s)

• Systems at equilibrium respond to external stresses to • Identify the response of a system at equilibrium to
offset the effect of the stress an external stress, using Le Châtelier's principle.
• Explain the relationships between Q, K, and the
direction in which a reversible reaction will proceed
to reach equilibrium.

Le Chatelier’s Principle

We have seen that a system not in equilibrium tends to progress toward equilibrium and the concentrations of the
reactants and products at equilibrium are characterized by the equilibrium constant Keq

at equilibrium
Le Chatelier’s principle states that when a chemical system already _______________________ is disturbed, the
system shifts
__________________________in minimizes the disturbance
a direction that __________________________________________. Basically, a system
at equilibrium tends to maintain that equilibrium and tries to bounce back when it is disturbed.

We can disturb a system in chemical equilibrium in several

different ways including changing the concentration
of reactant or product, changing the volume or the
pressure and changing the temperature. When the new
equilibrium is established, there will be a different set of
equilibrium concentrations for the reactants and products

Effect of Concentration Changes on Equilibrium

Consider the following reaction in chemical equilibrium:

N2O4(g) ⇋ 2 NO2(g)

concentration
•When the __________________________ increased
of a reactant or product is __________________, the reaction will shift in the
direction that allows it to ____________
use
up the added substance
•When the __________________________
concentration decreased
of a species is ___________________, the reaction will shift in the direction
recreate
that allows it to __________________ the substance that has been removed.

What happens if we add N2O4 to the equilibrium The reaction shifts to the right
mixture? to alleviate the addition of N204
Consider the following reaction
.

What happens if we remove N2O4 to the The reaction shifts to the left
in chemical equilibrium:
equilibrium mixture? to restore the N2O, that was
.
removed
N2O4(g) ⇋ 2 NO2(g)
What happens if we add NO2 to the equilibrium The reaction shifts to the left
mixture? to alleviate the addition of NO2
.

What happens if we remove NO2 to the The reaction shifts to the right
equilibrium mixture? to restore the NO2 that was
.
removed
 Summary: The Effect of
Concentration on Equilibrium

If a chemical system is at
equilibrium:

A+B⇋C+D

Consider the following reaction at equilibrium:

CaCO3(s) ⇋ CaO(s) + CO2(g)

What is the effect of adding additional CO2 to the reaction mixture? What is the effect of adding additional CaCO3?
Adding additional CO2 will cause the reaction to shift to the left. Adding
additional CaCO3 will have no effect on the reaction at equilibrium because
CaCO3 is a solid and its concentration is constant and has no effect on the
equilibrium (it does not show up in Keq expression)

The Effect of Volume (or Pressure) Changes on Equilibrium

According to Le Chatelier’s principle, if the volume of a system at equilibrium is changed, the pressure changes and the
system will shift in a direction to counter that change.
Consider the following reaction in chemical equilibrium:

N2(g) + 3 H2(g) ⇋ 2 NH3(g)

What happens if the volume of the reaction is

increased?
When the volume is increased, the reaction
Recall Boyle’s Law which states that pressure and volume shifts to the side with more moles of gas.
Since the left side of this equation has more
are ___________________ proportional. When volume is moles of gas, the reaction will shift to the left.
increased, pressure decreases and vice versa.

Summary: The Effect of Volume (or

Pressure) Changes on Equilibrium

If a chemical system is at equilibrium:

A(g) + B(g) ⇋ C(g) + D(g)

•If a reaction has an _______________________ _______________________ of gas on both sides of the chemical
equation, then a change in volume produces __________________ on the equilibrium

•Adding an __________________ (usually a noble gas like He or Ne) to the mixture at a

_________________________has ___________________on the equilibrium. Although the overall pressure of the
mixture increases, the partial pressures of the reactants and products do not change so there is no effect.

•If an inert gas is added to a non-rigid container, the volume of the container expands keeping the total pressure
constant (___________________________). The partial pressure of each of the gases changes which will cause a shift
Consider the following reaction at chemical equilibrium: 2 KClO3(s) ⇋ 2 KCl(s) + 3 O2(g)

What is the effect of decreasing the volume of the reaction mixture? Increasing the volume of the reaction mixture?
Adding an inert gas at constant volume?
The equation has 3 moles of gas on the right and zero moles of gas on the left. Decreasing the volume
causes the reaction to shift to the left (the side with fewer moles of gas). Increasing the volume of causes
the reaction to shift to the right (the side with more moles of gas). Adding an inert gas has no effect.
The Effect of Temperature on Equilibrium

According to Le Chatelier’s principle, if the temperature of a system at equilibrium is changed, the system will shift in a
direction to counter that change.

For an _____________________ reaction, we can think of heat as a ______________:

A + B ⇋ C + D + Heat

For an _____________________ reaction, we can think of heat as a _________________:

A + B + Heat ⇋ C + D

We can think of raising or lowering the temperature of a system in the same way we add or remove a reactant or product
in a system at equilibrium
The following reaction is endothermic: The following reaction is exothermic:
CaCO3(s) ⇋ CaO(s) + CO2(g) 2 SO2(g) + O2(g) ⇋ 2 SO3(g)
What is the effect of increasing the temperature of the reaction What is the effect of increasing the temperature of the reaction
mixture? Decreasing the temperature? mixture? Decreasing the temperature?
Since the reaction is endothermic, we can think of heat as a Since the reaction is exothermic, we can think of heat as a
reactant: product:
Heat + CaCO3(s) CaO(s) + CO2(g) 2 SO2(g) + O2(g) 2 SO3(g) + Heat

Raising the temperature is equivalent to adding a reactant Raising the temperature is equivalent to adding a product
which will cause the reaction to shift to the right. Lowering which will cause the reaction to shift to the left. Lowering
the temperature is equivalent to removing a reactant which the temperature is equivalent to removing a product which
will shift the reaction to the left will shift the reaction to the right

Summary: The Effect of Temperature Changes on Equilibrium

The following reaction is endothermic:

C(s) + CO2(g) ⇋ 2 CO(g)

Predict the effect (shift right, shift left, or

no effect) of increasing and decreasing the
reaction temperature. How does the value
of the equilibrium constant depend on
temperature?
Since this reaction is endothermic, we can consider heat to be
a reactant. Increasing the temperature will cause the reaction
to shift to the right, which will form more product and thus
increase the value of Keq. Decreasing the temperature will
cause the reaction to shift to the left, which will form more
reactants and thus decrease the value of Keq.

Changes in the Equilibrium Constant (Keq)

•Shifts caused by ______________________ or ________________ changes are temporary and _____________________

the value of the ____________________________________. Eventually, the concentration of the products and reactants
will reestablish the same ratio as they originally had at equilibrium

•Shifts caused by ___________________ changes affect reaction kinetics by adding or removing energy from the system
so they _______________________ the value of the ____________________________________ itself. The ratio of the
products to reactants at equilibrium will change as the temperature changes
 The Effect of Catalysts on Equilibrium
What happens if we add a catalyst to a chemical system that is at equilibrium?

A catalyst lowers the activation barrier between reactants and products. The
activation energies for both the forward and reverse reactions are lowered. The
catalyst thereby ________________________________________________________
____________________________________. Since K is the ____________ of the
forward and reverse rate constants for a reaction, you can predict that the presence of
a catalyst, even though it changes the reaction rate, does not affect the numeric value
of K.

As a result, a catalyst increases the rate at which equilibrium is achieved but does
not change the composition of the equilibrium mixture and ___________________
_____________________________________________________________________.
The catalyst has no net effect on the final equilibrium of the system.

The Effect of Dilution on Equilibrium Fe3+(aq) + SCN-(aq) ⇋ FeSCN2+(aq)

For an ________________ equilibrium, diluting with extra water can cause a shift. Which direction does this reaction shift
if more water was added to the system?
•Adding extra water (_________________) causes the reaction to shift to the side The reaction will shift to the side with more
that has __________________________________. aqueous species. In this example, the
reaction will shift to the left which has two
aqueous species as opposed to there being
•Removing some water (_______________________, say by evaporation) causes
only one aqueous species on the right.
the reaction to shift to the side with __________________________________.

Coal, which is primarily carbon, can be Consider the exothermic reaction: Coal, can be used to generate hydrogen gas (a
converted to natural gas, primarily CH4, by potential fuel) by the endothermic reaction:
the exothermic reaction: C2H4(g) + Cl2(g) ⇋ C2H4Cl2(g)
C(s) + H2O(g) ⇋ CO(g) + H2(g)
C(s) + 2 H2(g) ⇋ CH4(g) If you were trying to maximize the
amount of C2H4Cl2 produced, which If this reaction mixture is at equilibrium, predict
Which disturbance(s) will favor CH4 at tactic(s) would you try? Assume the whether each disturbance will result in the
equilibrium? reaction mixture reaches equilibrium. formation of additional hydrogen gas, the
formation of less hydrogen gas, or have no
a. Adding more C to the reaction mixture a. Increasing the reaction volume effect on the quantity of hydrogen gas.

b. Adding more H2 to the reaction b. Removing C2H4Cl2 from the reaction a. Adding more C to the reaction mixture
mixture mixture as it forms
b. Adding more H2O to the reaction mixture
c. Raising the temperature of the reaction c. Lowering the reaction temperature
mixture c. Raising the temperature of the reaction
d. Adding Cl2 mixture
d. Lowering the temperature of the
reaction mixture d. Increasing the volume of the reaction
mixture
e. Adding a catalyst to the reaction
mixture e. Adding a catalyst to the reaction mixture

f. Adding neon gas to the reaction f. Adding an inert gas to the reaction mixture
mixture
g. Increasing the pressure of the reaction
mixture