Reaction Direction

[Jarrett Peyrefitte 2K]

How do you determine what direction of the reaction goes given K and the concentrations of all reactants and products?

[Esha Chawla 2E]

How do you determine what direction of the reaction goes given K and the concentrations of all reactants and products?

Using the concentrations of all reactants and products, find Qc. Then, compare Qc to K. If Q < K, then the products are favored and the reaction proceeds forward. If Q > K, then the reactants are favored and the reaction proceeds backward. If Q = K, then the reaction is at equilibrium.

[Aman Sankineni 2L]

Q, which is the reactant quotient, is used to identify the direction of the reaction. By comparing the Q value, which is found with the same equation as the K value, with the K value, you can identify the direction. If Q < K then the reaction proceeds forwards but if Q > K then the reverse reaction proceeds. If Q=K then the reaction is already at equilibrium.

[Harry Zhang 1B]

You can determine the direction that a reaction goes to by looking at the Q and K value. If the Q value is smaller than the K value, then in order for the reaction to reach K, or equilibrium, there needs to be more products, and if the Q is larger than the K value, there needs to be more reactants for the reaction to approach equilibrium.

[Emily Vainberg 1D]

You use Q, which the the reactant quotient. You calculate it the same way as you find K (concentration of product/concentration of reactants). If Q<K the reaction proceeds to the right because the forward reaction is favored. If Q>K the reverse reaction is favored, so reaction proceeds to the left. Q=K means the reaction is at equilibrium.

[BritneyP- 2c]

You use the Q to find whether the reaction is reactant favored or product favored. By using the concentrations of the compounds, if Q<K then it is reactant favored and the forward reaction is favored. If Q>K then it is product favored and the reverse reaction is favored.