Temperature and Equilibrium

[505095793]

Why does increasing the temperature of an endothermic reaction shift the reaction towards products and why does increasing the temperature of an exothermic reaction shift the reaction towards reactants?

[JiangJC Dis2K]

If a reaction is endothermic, then it requires heat to complete the reaction, because the products have higher energy than the reactants. Therefore, if temperature is raised (more heat inputted) then equilibrium will favor the products. On the opposite, if a reaction is exothermic, meaning that the reactants have more energy than the products and heat is given off in the reaction, then an increase in temperature (more heat inputted) will favor the reactants because they are higher in energy.

[Kyle Golden Dis 2G]

Because endothermic reactions require heat in the reactants, increasing the temperature will result in the reaction sitting to the products in order to relieve the stress added to reaction. The same goes for exothermic reactions as the reaction will lay to the reactants if temperature is increased.

[Erin Kim 2G]

In an exothermic reaction one can almost consider heat as the product of the reaction. This means that as temperature increase the equilibrium would shift towards the left, because the temperature on the right, or number of "products" increased. Vice Versa, for an endothermic reaction, heat can be considered as a reactant of the reaction and therefore is the temperature increases, the reaction will shift right away from the increasing "reactants".