Direction of Gas Reaction

[005917072]

This is a practice problem that the TA showed in discussion today—I know for Part B the forward reaction will be favored since the product has less moles of gas than the reactants, but I also thought that would mean that if the container expanded then the reverse reaction would be favored. However, the TA said since the reaction isn’t at equilibrium the forward reaction will still be favored, so I just wanted to know if that’s always the case, where changing the volume of a container won’t change the direction of a reaction unless it’s at equilibrium?

[Lucas Vu 2G]

I think that generally when dealing with Le Chatelier's Principle, you only apply it when dealing with reactions at equilibrium, because the reaction wasn't at equilibrium, the reaction will favor going towards a general equilibrium before shifting based on the volume change.

[Patel Kardoukian 1F]

Changing the volume of the container only affects the direction of the reaction when the reaction is at equilibrium. This is L’Chatelier’s principle. Because in this case the reaction was not at equilibrium, the direction is still forward favored.