Change in temperature

[406003397]

How would a change in temperature affect the equilibrium of an exothermic acid-base neutralization reaction? Specifically, if the reaction releases heat, how would increasing the temperature of the system influence the position of equilibrium and why?

[Lucas Vu 2G]

The equilibrium of the reaction would shift towards the reactants side and therefore, the equilibrium constant of the reaction would decrease at the higher temperature. Heat is produced by exothermic reactions, so you can think of it as a product of the reaction and because an increase of products results in a shift of equilibrium toward the reactant, the increase of heat would cause a similar shift.

[Bryan Lee 2L]

Since the reaction is exothermic, it is already releasing heat. Therefore, adding even more heat would make the reaction counteract the added heat by favoring the reverse reaction (will favor reactants). By doing so, the reaction is removing the added heat since the reverse reaction is endothermic and therefore requires heat.

[006033476]

Increasing the temperature of an exothermic acid-base neutralization reaction would shift the equilibrium position to the left, favoring the reactants. This shift helps absorb some of the added heat, maintaining a new equilibrium where the concentrations of reactants increase and products decrease.