Determine thermodynamic stability with K vakues (text book q 5I.13)

[105988375]

hi! i was wondering how to do part c of this question. how do we know which compound is thermodynamically more stable compared to its atoms using the values given in the problem?

[Giuliana_Ming_2D]

Hi! The more thermodynamically stable compound is the one that has a higher concentration in the equilibrium constant. If K>1 that means that there are more products than reactants because it's more thermodynamically stable, and if K<1 the reactants are in greater quantity than the products because they're more thermodynamically stable. In parts a) and b) the reaction is Cl2(g) to Cl-(g) and F2(g) to F-(g). If K>1 then the atoms are more stable than their diatomic molecules because there are more of them. If K<1 then the concentration of the diatomic molecules are greater than the concentration of the atoms and are therefore more thermodynamically stable.