According to Le Chatelier's Principle: What happens when you add DIFFERENT species to the equilibrium?
Answers
Answer:
Le Chatelier's principle applies to equilibrium concentrations in specific equilibria. Addition of different species that affect these equilibrium concentrations, will change the equilibria accordingly.
Explanation:
Consider the solution behaviour of a sparingly soluble or insoluble salt at equilibrium, say AgCl
.We write
AgCl(s)⇌Ag+ +Cl−
(i) To describe this reaction, we write Ksp=[Ag+][CI−]
. Should we add aqueous ammonia we will reduce the [Ag+]
value because of the following competing equiibrium:
Ag+ +2NH3⇌[Ag(NH3)2]+
(ii) More silver ion, [Ag+]
, will enter solution because it can be complexed by the ammonia. To give an answer in terms of Le Chatelier's principle, because we reduce [Ag+]
in equilibrium (i), we can drive the equilibrium to the right hand side.
On the other hand, for equilibrium (ii), if we reduce [NH3]
, say by increasing the pHto form NH+4
we would drive the equilibrium to the left. Of course, we are dealing with competing equilibria, that may be difficult to calculate.