Inert Gases

[505095793]

Why does adding an inert gas to a reaction have no effect on equilibrium composition?

[Julia Go 2L]

When an inert gas is added to the system in equilibrium at constant volume, the total pressure will increase. But the concentrations of the products and reactants will not change. So, the equilibrium does not change. The number of moles per unit volume remains the same.

[Vicky Lu 1L]

Adding an inert gas won't have an effect on the equilibrium composition as inert gases do not want to interact/react as they are already stable.

[Jasmine Chow 1F]

Inert gases will not react with a reaction therefore it is not considered when calculating the equilibrium constant equation as nothing is changing for that gas and it is also not changing anything.

[Ariel Cheng 2I]

Concentration is dependent on the number of moles and volume (n/v). Though adding inert gas does change the pressure, it changes neither of the number of moles nor the volume which means concentration stays the same! If you changed pressure by changing the volume, then concentration would change and Q would change. However, remember that the only thing that can change K is temperature.

[Letizia Ye 4F]

Since the gas is inert, it won't react with anything else in the mixture and won't affect concentration levels.