CHEMISTRY COMMUNITY

As title implies, what is Le Chatelier's principle, and how do we apply it?

Le Chatelier's Principle explains how chemical reactions shift to minimize the effects of a change. For example, if more reactants are added, the reaction will shift "right" and more product is formed. If reactants are removed, the reaction will shift "left" and less products will be formed.

Le Chatelier's principle states that a system in equilibrium will shift in response to a change in pressure, temp, concentrations etc. in order to minimize its effects on the reaction.

You wouldn't necessarily use the principle in a calculation, it's more so to predict which way the reaction will shift given an increase or decrease to the products or reactants.

It is also called "The Equilibrium Law" because it states that when any system is at equilibrium for a long period of time it is subjected to change in concentration, temperature, volume, or pressure. The system changes to a new equilibrium and this change partly counteracts the applied change.

I'm confused as to why Le Chatelier's principle really matters in predicting which way the equilibrium will shift. Why does this tell us about the reaction and its components?

Ruby Richter 2L wrote:I'm confused as to why Le Chatelier's principle really matters in predicting which way the equilibrium will shift. Why does this tell us about the reaction and its components?

Because Le Chatelier's holds that a system in equilibrium will adjust as to minimize the effects of changes in something such as concentration, we can use the states of products or reactants in order to conclude how a system in equilibrium might respond. i.e., more reactants ---> reaction shifts right ; reactants removed ---> reaction shifts left

It basically explains how a reaction will maintain stability.

Le Chatlier's principle states that an equilibrium system will shift in order to minimize the impact of changes on the system, such as removing products, which will result in a more forward reaction.

What exactly does le chatelier's principle apply to? Is it just concentration of reactants/products, temperature, and pressure/volume or are there more factors that can be applied?

Those are all of the factors that can be applied

This principle tries to minimize the effect of change by shifting the direction of the reaction in order to maintain equilibrium

The principle works to minimize the change on the reaction by shifting the direction that the reaction takes place in order to maintain equilibrium.

805097738 wrote:This principle tries to minimize the effect of change by shifting the direction of the reaction in order to maintain equilibrium

Just to clarify, it can shift either way right?

Mariah wrote:

805097738 wrote:This principle tries to minimize the effect of change by shifting the direction of the reaction in order to maintain equilibrium

Just to clarify, it can shift either way right?

Yes, if the concentration of products was increased, which could happen in the real world, the reaction would respond by favoring the reverse reaction and the production of the reactants to reach the correct ratio for equilibrium.

in basic terms, le chanteliers principle just demonstrates how a system will always reach stability but more complex "Le Chatelier's principle can be used to predict the behavior of a system due to changes in pressure, temperature, or concentration. Le Chatelier's principle implies that the addition of heat to a reaction will favor the endothermic direction of a reaction as this reduces the amount of heat produced in the system

Le Chatlier's principle states how if you apply stress to a chemical reaction in equilibrium (changes in pressure, temperature, volume, concentrations of reactants/products), then the equilibrium of that chemical reaction will shift either to the left or right, in order to oppose the stress placed on the system in the first place.

Le Chatelier's principle states that a system in equilibrium will shift right / forward or left / backwards in response to a change in pressure, temperature, volume, concentrations etc. in order to minimize its effects on the reaction. The reaction will shift in order to keep a "balance".

It just shows how a reaction shifts to maintain stability

It basically says that the rxn likes to be in its equilibrium state and it will always try to be(adjust) in its equilibrium state. Therefore, when you change the rxn in someway such as adding a reactant or increasing the volume, etc. the rxn would shift to the corresponding side to adjust back to its equilibrium

Le Chatelier's principle just emphasizes the fact that reactions like to maintain equilibrium, so if anything disrupts that equilibrium (i.e. change in conc., change in volume/pressure), the reaction will shift in order to get back to that equilibrium state. We just use this knowledge to recognize that the reaction is going to shift in order to stay in equilibrium, and we use different logical methods to figure out which way it will shift.

The principle is used to predict how how the system will react to stress. It will change to reduce this given stress. It would be important to know how temperature, pressure/volume, increase in reactants/products, decrease in reactant/products that affect the equation. It could shift left or right depending on the particular situation.

Its basically how rxs will react to change to minimize actual change that occurs.

This principle describes the movement of the reaction a certain way to make it try to reach equilibrium.