What is the difference between reversible and irreversible reaction?
Answers
Answer:
A reversible reaction is a reaction in which the conversion of reactants to products and the conversion of products to reactants occur simultaneously.
Irreversible Reactions
A fundamental concept of chemistry is that chemical reactions occurred when reactants reacted with each other to form products. These unidirectional reactions are known as irreversible reactions, reactions in which the reactants convert to products and where the products cannot convert back to the reactants. These reactions are essentially like baking. The ingredients, acting as the reactants, are mixed and baked together to form a cake, which acts as the product. This cake cannot be converted back to the reactants (the eggs, flour, etc.), just as the products in an irreversible reaction cannot convert back into the reactants.
Answer:
Irreversible Reactions
Some chemical reactions can occur in only one direction. These reactions are called irreversible reactions. The reactants can change to the products, but the products cannot change back to the reactants. These reactions are like making a cake. The ingredients of a cake—such as eggs and flour—are the reactants. They are mixed together and baked to form the cake, which is the product. The cake can’t be “unbaked” and “unmixed” to change it back to the raw eggs, flour, and other ingredients. So making a cake is irreversible.
Combustion reactions are generally irreversible. Combustion occurs whenever a fuel burns. In this type of reaction, the fuel may combine with oxygen (in the air) and produces carbon dioxide and water vapor. The chemical equation for a combustion reaction is:
Fuel + O2 → CO2 + H2O
In a complete combustion reaction, fuel and oxygen are the reactants and the products are carbon dioxide and water. These two products cannot react to reform the fuel and oxygen, so the reaction is irreversible. The one-way arrow in the equation shows that the reaction can go in only one direction.
Reversible Reactions
Many chemical reactions can occur in both directions. These reactions are called reversible reactions. Not only can the reactants change to the products, but the products can change back to the reactants, at least under certain conditions. Consider again the reaction in which hydrogen gas and oxygen gas combine to produce water. This reaction is reversible if an electric current is applied to the water that is produced. The current causes the water molecules to break down to individual hydrogen and oxygen atoms. Then these atoms recombine to form molecules of hydrogen gas and oxygen gas.