A solution is at equilibrium when the reactants and the products of an experiment are forming at the same rate. This does not necessarily mean that the amount of products is equal to the amount of reactants. What it means is that if an equation is product-favored, say when K= 9, then the amount of products will be greater than reactants by a factor of 9. Similarly, a reactant-favored equilibrium would occur when K is less than one, such as 2/3.
In determining equilibrium, we use an equilibrium constant, K. K is a ratio of the concentration of products to the concentration of reactants. (Concentration should either be given, or calculated using moles/volume. Also, Concentration is indicated by brackets)
Kc= [products]/[reactants]
K is also understood to be a ratio of the forward rate/reverse rate.
This makes sense when applying it to the product-favored and reactant-favored equilibria mentioned earlier. (9/1 = 9 times more product, 2/3 means the products will increase by a factor of two and reactants will increase by a factor of three).
To determine the equilbrium of a solution, you can employ the R.I.C.E. method:
Reaction: Balanced Stochiometric Chemical Equation.
Here, you make sure that the ratio of moles of product to reactant makes sense and is not violating any laws.
ALSO: Once you've determined your equation is balanced, this is an appropriate time to determine your equilibrium constant. So: Kc= [products]/[reactants]
Initial Concentration:
Here, you take the concentration of the reactants and products, and begin to make a chart. Say you have reactants A and B and product C, then you can write down [A], [B], [C], as your headers and organize your information below them, so as to keep it in order. Remember, initially, you either don't have any of your products. So one side of your the equation's concentrations should be 0. Also, if you're trying to determine the initial concentration one of your components, it may not be given to you, but should be represented by a variable.
Change in Concentration:
This step utilizes the moles of the original equation and your knowledge of forward and reverse reactions to determine the change in concentration. If all of products and reactants have a coeffecient of 1, then each of your reactants transitioning to products will have have a change of -x (provided this is the variable you're searching for), and your products will have a change of +x.
Equilibrium:
Working down the columns of the R.I.C.E. table, we can use the initial and change rows to add together and determine equilibrium.
If your inital concentration for reactant A was 2, and your change in concentration was -x, then your equilibrium is 2-x. Then, if, for example, the equilibrium constant was described in the word problem to equal a number, such as 3.00, you could create the equation for K using
[C= 0+x] - because we didn't begin the experiment with products, and x is the change
[A=2-x]
[B=2-x] - for simplicity's purpose, as I did not define what the concentration of B was
so Kc= (C)/((A)(B)) OR Kc= (0+x)/((2-x)(2-x))= 3.00
from there you can work out the equation and solve for x. then USE x to plug back into the individual products and reactants equilibrium equations defined in the last row of the R.I.C.E. table.
i.e., x/((2-x)(2-x))= 3 and solve.
A saturated solution.
Let us put hypotonic into the mix. Hyper is more, hypo is less so that puts -tonic right in the middle, as a reference point. That reference point is also called equilibrium. When a solution contains more solute that it would normally contain at equilibrium it is hypertonic, and when a solution has dissolved in it less than the amount of solute that it would normally contain at equilibrium it is hypotonic.
A system in equilibrium has all the ingredients (reactants) and yields (products) in the same state as one another. Another form of equilibrium involves solute chemistry when the amount of solute out of solution equals that which is dissolved. Such as system is regarded as equilibrium in saturation.
maculae/static equilibrium
Hypertonic is when you have a high concentration of solute relative to the solvent. For example, salt water is a hypertonic solution with vast amounts of sodium, chlorine, potassium, and iodine dissolved in water.
Equilibrium is only found in a saturated solution, where the dissolved species and the undissolved species are in equilibrium with each other. In a dilute solution there is nothing that is undissolved, and so there is no equilibrium, and by definition a supersaturated solution is out of equilibrium and essentially has too much stuff dissolved in it (it will eventually return to equilibrium and some of the dissolved material will precipitate out).
isotonic solution, equilibrium
Equilibrium solubility is how much of a certain solute is in solution when the system has reached equilibrium. For example, when something like silver chloride (AgCl) is placed in water, none of it goes into solution. But given some time, an equilibrium will be reached where a small amount of AgCl is in solution and is in equilibrium with the insoluble AgCl.
When the dissolving rate equals the rate at which molecules come out of solution, the solution is in a state of dynamic equilibrium. This means that the amount of solute dissolving is equal to the amount of solute precipitating out of solution, resulting in a stable concentration of solute.
A saturated solution.
equilibrium
A simple example of a solution in equilibrium is a saturated salt solution, where the rate of salt dissolving is equal to the rate of salt crystallizing out of the solution, resulting in a dynamic equilibrium where the concentration of salt remains constant.
The cell and the solution will reach equilibrium when they both contain 40% water. At equilibrium, the water will flow from the region of higher concentration (50% in the cell) to the region of lower concentration (30% in the solution) until the concentrations are equal.
A solution with a concentration above the equilibrium solubility is called supersaturated. This means that the solution contains more solute than it should be able to hold at that given temperature.
At equilibrium, the rate of dissolution is equal to the rate of crystallization. This means that the amount of solute dissolving is the same as the amount of solute precipitating out of solution, leading to a dynamic equilibrium where there is no net change in the concentration of the solution.
The solution is called isotonic when the cell is in equilibrium. This means that the concentration of solutes inside and outside the cell is the same, resulting in no net movement of water across the cell membrane.
The point at which a substance becomes evenly distributed throughout the solution is called equilibrium.