How Does Temperature Affect the Equilibrium Constant?

[Lilyana Villa 3L]

Hello! Could someone tell me how raising the temperature affects K? For example, for endothermic reactions (or exothermic reactions), does increasing temperature increase or decrease K? Thank you!

[Joey_Okumura_1E]

It depends on if the reaction is endothermic or exothermic. If the reaction is endothermic, increasing the temperature will increase K. If the reaction is exothermic, increasing the temperature will decrease K. Think of heat as a reagent. For example, in an endothermic reaction, heat is being absorbed and is therefore a reactant. When heat increases, the reactants increase so the equilibrium will shift toward the products.

[Kelly Tran 1J]

Raising the temperature will either increase or decrease K. If the reaction is endothermic, raising the temperature will cause an increase in K. If the reaction is exothermic, raising the temperature will cause a decrease in K.

[aashmi_agrawal_3d]

The temperature will affect the value of K. If the temperature is increased in an endothermic reaction, K will increase but in an exothermic reaction K will decrease. This is because by raising the temperature in an endothermic reaction, you are favoring the creation of the products for that reaction.

[Madeline Louie 1B]

Raising the temperature of endothermic reactions, will make K increase as well. For endothermic reactions, the relationship between temperature and the equilibrium constant is direct. Raising the temperature of exothermic reactions will make K decrease. For exothermic reactions, the relationship between temperature and the equilibrium constant is indirect.

[Kiyoka Kim 3C]

Raising the temperature of an endothermic reaction increases K because you are shifting to the right resulting in a greater concentration of product at equilibrium (if you think of heat as a reactant). Raising the temperature of an exothermic reaction decreases K because you are shifting to the left resulting in a smaller concentration of products at equilibrium (if you think of heat as a product).

[Rahul Sobti 1E]

Increasing temp favors the endothermic reaction and decreasing it favors the exothermic reaction

[Alexandra Ahlschlager 1L]

If the reaction is exothermic and heat is being released, this means that the reaction will shift towards the reactants to account for this change. Since reactants are in the denominator of the K expression, increasing temperature will cause K to decrease. The opposite is true for exothermic reactions, in which an increase in temperature will cause K to increase. Hope this helps!

[Eliana Witham 2H]

It helps me to picture a potential energy diagram. A temperature increase favors the side that is higher on the graph. In an endothermic reaction, the higher side is the products, so K will increase. In an exothermic reaction, the higher side is the reactants, so K will decrease.

[Justin Lin 1B]

Depending on if the reaction is endothermic or exothermic, the temperature will have a different effect on K. Raising the temperature in an exothermic reaction will favor reactant formation instead of product formation. This will make your K value smaller. If you raise the temperature in an endothermic reaction, products will be favored, so your K value will. be larger.

[Alison Perkins 2B]

In an exothermic reaction:
Increasing temperature will favor the reactants
Decreasing temperature will favor the products

In an endothermic reaction:
Increasing temperature will favor the products
Decreasing temperature will favor the reactants

[Charlotte Adams 1A]

If the reaction is endothermic, increasing temp will increase K because more products have formed
If the reaction is exothermic, increasing the temp will decrease K because more reactants are formed.

[Ivy Tan 1E]

Hi!
If the reaction is endothermic: increasing the temperature will increase K (favor product formation) and decreasing the temperature will decrease K (favor reactant formation).
If the reaction is exothermic: increasing the temperature will decrease K (favor reactant formation) and decreasing the temperature will increase K (favor product formation).
Hope this helps!!

[Jonathan Malau 1F]

If temperature is increased, the equilibrium moves in the direction of the endothermic reaction. If the temperature is reduced, the equilibrium moves in the direction of the exothermic reaction. I've read that increasing the temperature decreases the value of the equilibrium constant.

[Tatyana Bonnet 2H]

Endothermic require energy, so if temp is raised more energy is being input through heat thus favoring the products and raising K. Exothermic reactions release heat, so if temp is raised it would be favoring the reverse reaction which requires heat, favoring the reactants and lowering K. The vice versa works for lowering temp.

[Eliana Carney 3E]

Hey Lilyana!

Basically, if the reaction is endothermic, then heating will favor product formation and increase K. If the reaction is exothermic, then heating will favor reactant formation and decrease K.

I like to think of heat as either a product or a reactant depending on the reaction, and this helps me understand and remember the changes in K. For endothermic reactions, heat acts like a reactant because it is needed to form products, so increasing heat would be like increasing the concentration of a reactant and we know that this causes the formation of products. Therefor, when heat is added to an endothermic reaction, the K value increases because there is more products at equilibrium.

The same thing goes for exothermic reactions. In exothermic reactions, heat acts like a product because it is released, so increasing heat would be like increasing the concentration of a product, which would cause the formation of reactants. The formation of reactants would cause the value of K to decrease. Hope this helps!

[Ziyan Peng 3A]

Raising temperature makes K higher in endothermic reactions and lower in exothermic reactions.

Think of it in terms of the reaction curves: raising temperature pushes the reaction towards the products, which are higher energy than reactants, in endothermic reactions, and vice versa.

[Caelin Brenninkmeijer 1G]

If the reaction requires heat (endothermic) while forming the product, then the heating will favor product formation. An increase in products will lead to an increase in K. However, an exothermic reaction will favor reactant formation, decreasing the value of K.

[Brianna Chen 3F]

It depends if the reaction is endothermic or exothermic. If the reaction is endothermic, an increase in temperature favors the products. If the reaction is exothermic, an increase in temperature favors the reactants.

[annabelchen2a]

Hi! I just wanted to add an example I found online somewhere and put in my notes (I can't remember the exact website, otherwise I would give credit):

So let's say we have this equation N2(g) + 3H2(g) → 2NH3(g) ΔH=-92

An increase in temperature will favor the endothermic reaction because it takes in energy. The reverse reaction is endothermic, so the reverse reaction is favored, and the yield of NH3 will decrease.
A decrease in temperature will favor the exothermic reaction because it releases energy. The forward reaction is exothermic, so the forward reaction is favored, and NH3 increases.

[Alexis Sanft 1E]

If the enthalpy of the reaction is positive, then you know the reaction is endothermic and requires energy. This also means that since the reaction is endothermic and requires energy, then an increase in temperature will lead to your K value increasing, essentially making Q<K, and causing a shift to the right in favor of products.
If the enthalpy of the reaction is negative, then you known that the reaction is exothermic, or is releasing energy in the form of heat. This means that and increase in temperature for an exothermic reaction will cause a decrease in K, leading to Q>K, and ending in a left shift in favor of reactants.

[Sahaj Patel Lec3DisK]

An increase in temperature for an exothermic reaction means that the formation of reactants will be favored, while an increase in temperature for an endothermic reaction means that the formation of products will be favored. If you cool either reaction, then the opposite happens. Hope this helps!

[jasonfarrales3D]

For endothermic reactions, increases its temperature leads to products being more favored, and as a result the K value is increased. On the other hand, when its temperature is decreased, reactants become more favored, resulting in a decreased K value.
For exothermic reactions, an increase in the temperature leads to reactants being more favored, and as a result, the K value is decreased. Similarly, when its temperature is decreased, products become more favored, resulting in an increased K value.

[MariaCassol1L]

Think about this as adding heat or taking away heat from the system. So if the reaction is endothermic, it requires heat, so adding more heat to the system means that the system will want to counter it by using up that heat, so the reaction will favor the product (increase K). If the reaction is exothermic, then adding heat will make it favor the reverse reaction, which is endothermic and so will use up the heat (decreasing K).
Also, remember a higher K means products are favored and a small K means reactants are favored because of the way K is set up as a fraction with products on top and reactants on the bottom.

[Aditya Sundaram 3D]

It depends on if the reaction is endothermic or exothermic. If it is endothermic and absorbs heat, then increasing temperature would be like feeding the flames. If it was exothermic and releases heat, decreasing the temperature allows more heat to escape.

[Sejal Parsi 3K]

If the reaction is endothermic, raising the temperature will make K increase. If the reaction is exothermic, raising the temperature will make K decrease.