At 600degrees Celcius, gaseous CO and Cl2 are mixed together in a 1.00 L closed container. At the instant they are mixed, their concentrations are CO=.25 mol/L and Cl2= .69 mol/L. After equilibrium is established, their concentrations are CO= .25 mol/L and Cl2=.15 mol/L. Write and evaluate the equilibrium constant for the reaction.

Question

At 600degrees Celcius, gaseous CO and Cl2 are mixed together in a 1.00 L closed container. At the instant they are mixed, their concentrations are CO=.25 mol/L and Cl2= .69 mol/L. After equilibrium is established, their concentrations are CO= .25 mol/L and Cl2=.15 mol/L. Write and evaluate the equilibrium constant for the reaction.

Answer 1

To write the equilibrium constant expression, we need to first determine the balanced chemical equation for the reaction involving CO and Cl2. Let's call the products COCl2.

The balanced chemical equation is:

CO + Cl2 ↔ COCl2

Now, we can write the equilibrium constant expression, Kc:

Kc = ([COCl2]/[CO][Cl2])

Given that the equilibrium concentrations of COCl2, CO, and Cl2 are COCl2 = 0 M, CO = 0.25 M, and Cl2 = 0.15 M, respectively, we can substitute these values into the equilibrium constant expression:

Kc = (0/0.25*0.15)

Since the concentration of COCl2 is zero at equilibrium, we are dividing by zero, which is undefined.

Therefore, the equilibrium constant (Kc) for this reaction cannot be determined using the given information.