Equilibrium constant between 10^-3 and 10^3

[Melody Haratian 2J]

If the value of K is in between 10^-3 and 10³ does equilibrium not sit towards the right or left? Where would we define equilibrium as going towards?

[Arezo Ahmadi 3J]

I know that specifically when the equilibrium constant is 0, we would not see that because of how that would mean the product concentration would have to be 0 at equilibrium, which is not reasonable.

[Kyla Roche 2K]

If values of K are in between 10^-3 and 10^3 then neither direction of reaction is strongly favored.

[Margia Adriano 2A]

Hi there! All you can really say for sure is that there is no strong favor towards either the reverse and forward reaction. If it gets pretty close to either end, it would be a little bit easier to say that it at least leans in one direction, but there is still no strong favor. I can say for sure that K being equal to 1 is very rare because it shows that either side of the reaction has equal stability which is not something that occurs very often. I hope this helps!

[Chinyere Okeke 2J]

Since in that case, we wouldn't know for sure whether the products or reactants are favored in the reactions, the most likely best bet would be to say: If values of K are in between 10^-3 and 10^3, neither direction of the reaction is strongly favored. Emphasis on the strongly because I believe if k is greater than 1 then the reaction slightly favors the products and if the k is less than 1 then the reaction slightly favors the reactants.

[Isabel_Eslabon_2G]

I think Lavelle said that if 10^-3 < K < 10^3 (intermediate values of K), then neither reactants nor products are strongly favored in that reaction (from the lecture on 1/6).

[Justin Nguyen 3E]

To add onto what Margia said, I think that the a certain direction will still be favored if K is between 10^3 and 10^-3 (but not 1), but to a much lesser extent, just like how biological reactions can still occur without an enzyme or catalyst, but at a very slow rate.