Using Kc or Kp

[705170809]

How do we know when to use Kp or Kc? Sometimes it seems like you can use both?

[Kristen Kim 2K]

Use Kp when the reactants and products are gaseous, and use Kc when the reactants and products are aqueous.

[Brian Hom 2F]

Kp should be used when the reactants and products deal with partial pressures and are gaseous while Kc should be used when the reactants and products are aqueous and deal with molarity.

[Rachel Yoo 1F]

Kp is for partial pressure with units like atm, bar, torr, etc. Kc is for concentrations and will have mol/L for units

[Adam Vuilleumier 2K]

Since Kc uses concentrations which are approximations, I know that we do not include mol/L units in our calculations. For Kp and partial pressures, do we leave out the units as well?

[juliasloan_4g]

both of them always work, you just have to see which information you are given to work with. If you are given moles and liters molarity can be found so Kc can be used but if pressures are given use Kp. Kp is also most commonly with gases

[Carine Tamamian 2B]

Kp is used for gases, and Kc for concentrations. Sometimes Kc is used for gases as well, it depends on the question.

[Julia Lee]

Since Kc uses concentrations which are approximations, I know that we do not include mol/L units in our calculations. For Kp and partial pressures, do we leave out the units as well?

Yes, I believe you can leave out units for both. Although when doing calculations using Partial Pressures, it may be helpful to leave them in.

[Julia Lee]

Kp is for partial pressure with units like atm, bar, torr, etc. Kc is for concentrations and will have mol/L for units

Do you know how we would convert between these different units for partial pressure or if it would be necessary?

[Jesse Kuehn 1B]

All of these are just units for partial pressures, in order to convert between them, you would just have to look up how each one relates to another for example 760 torr is equal to 1 atm so to go from atm to torr you just multiply by 760.

[Eric Quach 1C]

Typically, Kp is used for when they give you partial pressures which means it will typically be used with problems that contain gases in the products or reactants.
Kc is used with concentration values and are typically used in problems with aqueous solutions. However, if a problem gives you the concentration of gasses, it's ok to use the Kc in that situation.

[Shreya_Bharadwaj_1D]

You would use Kc when dealing with concentrations of substances and Kp when dealing with the partial pressures of gases

[taryn_baldus2E]

Problems might also require you to convert between concentration and partial pressure so it is important to remember how to manipulate the ideal gas law to suit this purpose.

[ran2000]

Kp is used when the substances are gaseous. But Kc can be used when the substances are gaseous or aqueous.