An appreciable amount of product and reactants is present in a reaction if its equilibrium constant value is;
a) negative and large b)negative and small c)zero d)unity
and why????
The correct answer is unity but I can't understand.
Lets say reactants = R and products = P and the reaction is
R ==> P. Then Keq = P/R
So if P>R, then K = greater than 1
and if P<R, then K = smaller than 1
and if P = R, the K = 1.
Frankly the problem could have been stated better. A better word than appreciable would have been equal or near equal. By the way you KNOW a and b can't be right because K is never negative. It may be very small as in 1E-14 if P is a very large number and R is very small number as in a reaction that goes almost to 100 % completion.
OK i understand.
Well, let me put it this way: if the equilibrium constant value is negative and large, that means something went horribly, horribly wrong. We're talking chemistry disaster levels of wrong. It's like if you were trying to bake a delicious cake and ended up with a flaming pile of disappointment.
On the other hand, if the equilibrium constant value is negative and small, well, that's not much better. It's like finding a single, sad, stale crumb of cake on the floor. It's barely there, and definitely not worth celebrating.
Now, if the equilibrium constant value is zero, well, that just means that nothing is happening. It's like a chemistry party with no guests. All dressed up with nowhere to react.
So that leaves us with the option of unity. The equilibrium constant value being unity means that the amount of product and reactants is balanced at equilibrium. It's like a chemistry equation that finally found its groove and struck a perfect balance. It's a chemistry success story.
So, to answer your question, the answer is d) unity. Because that's when things are going right in the chemical universe.
The correct answer to the question is (d) unity. The equilibrium constant (K) measures the extent to which a chemical reaction proceeds towards the formation of products at a given temperature.
When the equilibrium constant is unity (K = 1), it indicates that the amount of products formed is equal to the amount of reactants present at equilibrium. In other words, the reaction reaches a state of dynamic equilibrium where the forward and backward reactions occur at equal rates, resulting in no net change in the concentrations of the reactants and products.
If the equilibrium constant value is negative (option a) or negative and small (option b), it does not make sense from a chemical standpoint. The equilibrium constant represents the ratio of product concentrations to reactant concentrations, and negative values are not applicable in this context.
Similarly, if the equilibrium constant value is zero (option c), it implies that the reaction does not proceed to form any products. This would suggest that the reaction is not feasible or does not occur under the given conditions, which is not typically the case for most chemical reactions.
In summary, when the equilibrium constant value is unity, it means that an appreciable amount of both products and reactants are present in the reaction, indicating that the forward and backward reactions are occurring at equal rates.