Ice-cream Posted June 15, 2005 Share Posted June 15, 2005 with the equilibrium constant, when K<1 the reactants are favoured, when K>1 the products are favoured but when K=1...what happens? also, does any1 know whether the terms "carbanion" and "carbocation" refer to a whole molecule or just to the C in the molecule? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yggdrasil Posted June 16, 2005 Share Posted June 16, 2005 When K = 1, there will be equal concentrations of products and reactants at equilibirum. In terms of thermodynamics, this corresponds to a reaction with no change in Gibbs free energy ([math]\Delta G = 0[/math]). The terms carbocation and carbanion can refer to both the entire moleculre or the specific carbon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DQW Posted June 20, 2005 Share Posted June 20, 2005 with the equilibrium constant, when K<1 the reactants are favoured, when K>1 the products are favoured but when K=1...what happens? What do you mean by "favored" ? At equilibrium, nothing is favored, no matter what the value of K. Also, for most reactions, K is not dimensionless; so changing the units of measurement will change the value of K. So the statement about K being greater than or less than 1 must be made with care. What one can say is the following : In commonly used units (mol/L and powers thereof), if K >> 1, then (the reaction goes nearly to completion before reaching equilibrium, or) the equilibrium concentrations of at least one of the reactants is small compared to their initial concentrations AND when K << 1, the change in concentrations of all the reactants is small compared to the initial/equilibrium concentrations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnpatterson Posted June 21, 2005 Share Posted June 21, 2005 I think I see what you are saying but could I confirm that have got it right by asking if you really mean K<<1? Wouldnt it be more meaningful to say the 1/K >> 1 as K cant go negative and zero doesnt qualify as "very much less than" one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now