Question

What happens to the equilibrium constant when a reaction is doubled?

Answer 1

Equilibrium constant:

1. It is defined as the concentration of products divided by the concentration of reactants and each term is raised to the stoichiometric coefficient.
2. The equilibrium constant (${\mathrm{K}}_{\mathrm{c}}$) expression of a reaction is shown below: $\mathrm{aA}+\mathrm{bB}\rightleftharpoons \mathrm{cC}+\mathrm{dD}$ where a, b, c, and d are the stoichiometric coefficients of the reactants and products.

${\mathrm{K}}_{\mathrm{c}}=\frac{{\left[\mathrm{C}\right]}^{\mathrm{c}}{\left[\mathrm{D}\right]}^{\mathrm{d}}}{{\left[\mathrm{A}\right]}^{\mathrm{a}}{\left[\mathrm{B}\right]}^{\mathrm{b}}}$

Effect of reaction on the equilibrium constant:

1. The equilibrium constant is dependent only on temperature only not on the other parameters such as concentration, pressure, etc. so the equilibrium constant is constant when the reaction is doubled.
2. It depends on the thermodynamics differences between the initial and final states between the reactants and products and also depends on the nature of the state.
3. The change in reactant and product concentration proceeds forward and reverse reaction but the equilibrium constant is constant.