Le Chatelier’s Principle relates how systems at equilibrium respond to disturbances. Equilibrium is disturbed when concentration, pressure, or temperature changes. Reactions want to stay at equilibrium. For the reaction to go back to equilibrium, it must shift to the left or right to settle the disturbance. In the given problem, the instructions were given to find the partial pressure of the reactant and the product using different equations. The equations used the formulas of (PNO2)^2/PN2O4=0.60 and PN2O4+PNO2=.050. To find the unknown values, it is necessary to rearrange to solve. After rearranging, continue by putting the values into the quadratic formula to calculate the partial pressure. The quadratic formula was found to be (-0.60±√(〖0.60〗^2-4(1)(-0.30)))/(2(1)), using PNO2 as “x”. …show more content…
The problem gives four perturbations that the equilibrium is subjected to and gives instructions to explain what should happen in these situations. For Part A, N2O4 gas is added to the vessel (which had been above equilibrium) to total a concentration of .375atm in the reactant gas. This means that there is an increase in concentration on the left side of the equation, so to reach equilibrium the equation needs to shift right. For Part B, the total volume of the vessel is decreased to 0.50 L. Pressure and volume are inversely related (as said in the ideal gas law), meaning that the pressure increases when volume decreases, and when the pressure is high the shift needs to go toward the other side of the equation. In this case, the equation shifts left. For Part C, 1.0atm of N2 gas was added to the vessel, bringing the total pressure to