ICE Table

[Soumya Ravichandran 4H]

For the ICE table that Dr. Lavelle mentioned in class today, why/do we always assume that products start at 0 if no numbers are given at the beginning for the initial condition?

[KimGiang2F]

Normally, when the concentration of the products isn't given for equilibrium problems and only reactants are presented initially, it is assumed products have very low concentrations that would make solving the problems to be more complex. Essentially, to make calculations easier and less complicated, we assume that the concentrations are so low, that they can be estimated to be 0.

[Matthew Mar 1J]

We also have no reason to believe there is already product at the start unless it is explicitly stated. If these were actual reactions we were doing in a lab, we could probably measure the initial conditions, but since it's a hypothetical problem, I don't think we can actually determine the initial conditions unless more information is given, so we have to assume for convenience.

[Sophie Roberts 1E]

We assume the concentrations are very low and close to zero, so to make the calculations easier we just use 0.

[Kirsty Star 2H]

The initial concentration of products isn't always 0, though. Sometimes it will be given information in the problem. Usually if it's not given, we assume it's 0.