Patrick's Week 1 Step Up Challenge Problem

[Kanishkh Patalay]

Hi, I was wondering if someone knows how to solve for x in part c of the challenge problem in Patrick's Week 1 Step Up worksheet. I have the equation . I'm pretty sure we cannot assume x is small because Qc is so much bigger than Kc. This means the initial concentration of products will reduce drastically and the initial concentration of the reactants will increase drastically also. Since this equation involves powers of x greater than 2, i'm not sure how to solve for x. Can someone who knows how to soive for x please explain this to me. Thank you in advance.

[Chem_Mod]

Hi Kanishkh,

You bring up a great point — this question was far more challenging than you will need to know for the scope of this class. I mentioned this during my Week 2 step-up but forgot to announce this on Chemistry Community as well. Your logic up until solving the higher degree polynomial is perfect though!

~ Patrick