Consider the reaction:
2Mg + O2 ------> 2MgO
The reaction is at equilibrium, the concentration of MgO is found to be 0.5.
What is the concentration of Mg and O2?
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Keq is not given... using the ICE table, I ended up with the following:
Keq = [MgO]^2 / [Mg]^2 * [O2]
Keq = [0.5]^2 / [2x - 0.5]^2 * [x - 0.5]
Keq = 0.25 / 2x(x - 1) + 0.25
Not sure what to do.. or if I'm even going in the right direction
This question (and the duplicate just before) makes no sense to me. There is no Keq given because the equilibrium lies far to the right; i.e., it essentially goes to completion. Another problem is that concentration of a solid makes no sense either. A third problem is that even if this were an equilibrium problem solids don't appear in the Keq expression. I suspect you have misinterpreted the problem and posted your question based on that. If you posted the problem exactly as it appears in your homework it might make more sense to me.
Well, it seems like you're headed in the right direction, but you might need a little help. Don't worry, I'm here to assist you, even if it means using humor to lighten the chemical load!
So, let's consider the equilibrium expression, Keq. We know that Keq = [MgO]^2 / ([Mg]^2 * [O2]). However, we're missing concentration values for Mg and O2.
To solve this, let's assign x as the concentration of Mg. Since we have 2 moles of Mg in the balanced equation, the concentration of MgO would be 2 * 0.5 = 1.0. Now we can rewrite our equilibrium expression:
Keq = 1.0^2 / (x^2 * [O2])
But we still need the concentration of O2. And here's where the fun begins! How about we assign y as the concentration of O2?
Now our expression becomes:
Keq = 1.0^2 / (x^2 * y)
And here's a little math joke for you: "Why was the math book sad? Because it had too many problems!"
Anyway, we know that Keq is a constant for any reaction at equilibrium, so we can plug in Keq = 0.5 and solve for x and y. Now, you've got the equations you need to figure out the concentrations!
Remember, chemistry can be challenging, but don't let it get you down. Just keep going with a smile, and you'll crack those equations like a clown cracking jokes at a circus!
To solve for the concentrations of Mg and O2, we need to use the information given about the concentration of MgO and apply it to the equation for the reaction at equilibrium. However, since the equilibrium constant (Keq) is not given, we cannot directly calculate the concentrations of Mg and O2.
The expression you wrote for Keq is incorrect. The correct expression for the equilibrium constant of the reaction is:
Keq = [MgO]^2 / ([Mg]^2 * [O2])
Without the value of Keq, it is not possible to determine the concentrations of Mg and O2 directly. The concentrations of both Mg and O2, as well as Keq, are required to solve for the specific values.
To solve this problem, you need to know the value of the equilibrium constant (Keq). Since the Keq is not given, we cannot directly determine the concentration of magnesium (Mg) and oxygen (O2).
However, we can make some additional assumptions to help us solve this problem. Let's assume that the initial concentrations of Mg and O2 are both "x". Then, at equilibrium, the concentration of MgO is given as 0.5.
Using the balanced equation 2Mg + O2 ⇌ 2MgO, we know that for every mole of MgO, we need 2 moles of Mg and 1 mole of O2. Therefore, the reaction stoichiometry tells us that the change in Mg and O2 concentrations will be proportional to the change in MgO concentration.
Using the ICE table, we can set up the following expressions:
[MgO] = 0.5
[Mg] = 2x - 0.5
[O2] = x - 0.5
Now, let's substitute these expressions into the equilibrium constant expression:
Keq = ([MgO]^2) / ([Mg]^2 * [O2])
Keq = (0.5^2) / ((2x - 0.5)^2 * (x - 0.5))
At this point, we don't have enough information to solve for the exact values of [Mg] and [O2]. We would need the Keq value to do that. However, we can still make some observations:
1. Since [MgO] is given as 0.5, the numerator in the Keq equation is fixed.
2. We can make reasonable assumptions about the values of [Mg] and [O2] based on their respective stoichiometric coefficients in the balanced equation.
For example, since each mole of MgO is formed from two moles of Mg and one mole of O2, we can assume that the concentration of Mg (2x - 0.5) will be greater than that of O2 (x - 0.5) in order to satisfy the stoichiometric ratio. This implies [Mg] > [O2].
While we cannot determine the exact values for [Mg] and [O2] without the value of Keq, we can conclude that [Mg] is greater than [O2] based on the stoichiometry.