Leigh A.

asked • 02/24/15

Calculating Equilibrium Concentrations

Consider the reaction:
 
CO(g)+NH3(g)<=>HCONH2(g), Kc=0.840.
 
If a reaction vessel initially contains only CO and NH3 at concentrations of 1.00 M and 2.00 M, respectively, what will the concentration of HCONH2 be at equilibrium?
 
[HCONH2]=?????

1 Expert Answer

By:

Leigh A.

It's saying that 1.68 M is the value of c in the quadratic formula.
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02/24/15

Jon P.

tutor
Sorry, you're right -- I misunderstood how to do the problem.  Please ignore my answer, I have to think about it some more.
 
 
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02/24/15

Jon P.

tutor
OK...
 
Suppose x moles of CO react with x moles of NH3 to lead to the equilibrium.  This will result in the creation of x moles of HCONH2.  At that point, there will be 1-x moles of CO and 2-x moles of NH3.  So the equilibrium constant will be equal to:
 
[HCONH2] / ([CO][NH3]) = x / ((1-x)(2-x)) which will be equal to 0.84.
 
Let's solve this...
 
x / ((1-x)(2-x)) = 0.84
x = 0.84 (1-x)(2-x)
x = 0.84(2 -3x +x2)
x = 1.68 - 2.52x + 0.84x2
0 = 1.68 -3.52x + 0.84x2
 
x = 3.52 ± √((-3.52)2 -4(0.84)(1.68))
       -------------------------------------
               2*0.84
 
= 3.52 ± √2(12.3904 -5.6448)
   ---------------------------------
              1.68
 
= (3.52 ± 2.60) / 1.68 = 3.64 or 0.55
 
3.64 is impossible because that is greater than the maximum possible concentration of HCONH2.  So 0.55 is the correct value of x, and that's the concentration of HCONH2.
 
Is that better, or still wrong somewhere?
   
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02/24/15

Leigh A.

Yes, that one was right! Thank you so much for the help! (:
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02/24/15

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