CHEMISTRY COMMUNITY

What happens to a reaction at equilibrium when you decrease the volume ?

When you decrease the volume at equilibrium, it will shift towards the side of the reaction with fewer moles.

When volume is decreased at equilibrium, the reaction will shift to the side with less moles. It also depends on how Q relates to K.

When volume is decreased it is most likely that that will cause pressure to increase, therefore causing the reaction to shift to the side with fewer moles

When you decrease the volume, the reaction will favor the side with fewer moles of gas.

A nice way to visualize is this: when you are decreasing the volume you are increasing the pressure. When you apply pressure to something, it would want to move to a place more open to lessen the pressure. This is the case for reactants and products experiencing increases pressure. The side with more moles will want to move to the side with less moles. So if products have more moles, then increased pressure will cause an increase in reactants.

If you're decreasing the overall volume, the pressure will increase, shifting the reaction where there's less moles of gas.

If you increase the volume, the reaction will most likely shift to the side with fewer moles

It will favor the side of the reaction with fewer moles.