Question
Question: A reaction mixture initially contains \( 2.8M \) \( {H_2}O \) and \( 2.6M \) \( S{O_2} \) . How do y...
A reaction mixture initially contains 2.8M H2O and 2.6M SO2 . How do you determine the equilibrium concentration of H2S if Kc for the reaction at this temperature is 1.3×10−6 ?
Solution
Before starting solving the question, we need to write down the equilibrium reaction first and then we will put the values in the formula of equilibrium constant. Equilibrium concentration is basically a concentration where the ratio of the concentration of reactant and the product is constant.
Complete answer:
Now, we know the equilibrium constant for the reaction at a particular temperature is 1.3×10−6 . As we can see that the value of Kc<1 , this means that most probably the equilibrium mixture contains more reactivity than products.
Let’s assume the concentration of the reactants and products with respects to the time so, we are going to write down the equilibrium reaction, which is:
2SO2(g)+2H2O(g)⇌2H2S(g)+3O2(g)
2.6 2.8 0 0 −−−− at t=0
2.6−2x 2.8−2x 2x 3x −−−− at t=t
Now, we know that equilibrium constant of any reaction can be calculated by dividing the concentration of the products with the concentration of the reactants. Mathematically, it can be written as:
Kc=[A]a×[B]b[C]c×[D]d , where Kc stands for the equilibrium constant, A and B stands for the reactants, C and D stands for the products formed, a,b,c,d stands for the number of moles of A,B,C and D and [A] stands for the equilibrium concentration of A in moles and so on..
Now we will write equilibrium constant for the reaction:
Kc=[SO2]2⋅[H2O]2[H2S]2⋅[O2]3
After putting the values into the above formula, we get:
Kc=[2.6−2x]2⋅[2.8−2x]2[2x]2⋅[3x]3 Kc=(2.6−2x)2⋅(2.8−2x)24x2⋅27x3 Kc=(2.6−2x)2⋅(2.8−2x)2108x5=1.3×10−6
Now, we can see that the value of Kc is very low as compared to the initial concentration of H2O and SO2 , therefore, 2.8−2x≈2.8 and 2.6−2x≈2.6 . After rewriting the equation, we get:
1.3×10−6=(2.6)2⋅(2.8)2108x5
Now we will solve this equation to find out the value of x and after solving, we get:
x=0.05767
Since, we know that 2x is the equilibrium concentration for hydrogen sulphide, so we will get:
[H2S]=2x=2×0.05767M=0.11534M≈0.12M [H2S]=0.12M
So, we will find out the equilibrium concentrations for the two reactants:
[SO2]=2.6−2x=2.6−2⋅0.05767M=2.5M [H2O]=2.8−2x=2.8−2⋅0.05767M=2.7M
As we can see, the concentration of Hydrogen sulphide is very low as compared to the concentration of the reactants.
Therefore, equilibrium concentration of [H2S] is 0.12M .
Note:
For solving such types of questions we need to write equilibrium reactions first and then only we will be able to assume their concentration and then the further calculations to find out the result can be done.