2 moles of pcl5 were heated in a closed vessel of 2 lit capacity . At ...
Calculation of Keq for the dissociation of PCl5
Given information:
- Number of moles of PCl5 = 2
- Volume of the container = 2 L
- At equilibrium, 40% of PCl5 dissociates into PCl3 and Cl2
Calculation:
The balanced chemical equation for the dissociation of PCl5 is:
PCl5(g) ⇌ PCl3(g) + Cl2(g)
Let the initial concentration of PCl5 be x mol/L. At equilibrium, the concentration of PCl5 will be (1-0.4)x = 0.6x mol/L, and the concentrations of PCl3 and Cl2 will be 0.4x mol/L each.
The expression for the equilibrium constant, Keq, is:
Keq = [PCl3][Cl2]/[PCl5]
Substituting the equilibrium concentrations, we get:
Keq = (0.4x)(0.4x)/(0.6x) = 0.16x/0.6x = 0.2667
Rounding off to three significant figures, the value of Keq is 0.266.
Explanation:
At equilibrium, the rate of the forward reaction (dissociation of PCl5) is equal to the rate of the backward reaction (combination of PCl3 and Cl2 to form PCl5). The equilibrium constant, Keq, is a measure of the extent to which the reactants and products are present at equilibrium.
In this case, the value of Keq is less than 1, indicating that the reaction favors the formation of PCl5. This is because the concentration of PCl5 at equilibrium is higher than the concentrations of PCl3 and Cl2.
The reaction can be shifted to the right (towards more PCl3 and Cl2) by decreasing the volume or increasing the temperature. It can be shifted to the left (towards more PCl5) by increasing the volume or decreasing the temperature.