Le Chateliers Principle

Le Chateliers principle predicts what will happen if conditions are changed in a reaction

If you change the concentration, pressure or temperature of a reversible reaction, you are going to alter the position of the equilibrium. This means you will end up with different amounts of reactants or products at equilibrium.

Le Chatelier's principle states - If there is a change in concentration, pressure or temperature, the equilibrium will move to counteract the change

So basically, if you raise the temperature, the equilibrium will move to cool things down. Or if you raise the pressure or concentration, the equilibrium will move to reduce it

Catalysts have no effect on the equilibrium

This is because they do not affect the yield, but the do mean equilibrium is reached faster

Concentration -

• If you increase the concentration of the REACTANT the equilibrium tries to get rid of the extra reactant. It does this by making more of the PRODUCT. (Equilibrium shifts to the right)

Pressure (only effects gases) -

• Increasing the pressure causes the equilibrium to shift to the side with FEWER gas molecules
• Decreasing the pressure causes the equilibrium to shift to the side with MORE gas molecules

Temperature -

• Increasing the temperature causes the equilibrium in the endothermic direction
• Decreasing the temperature causes the equilibrium in the exothermic direction
• If the forward reaction is exothermic, the reverse reaction will be endothermic