Question

Given the system: 4NH3(g) + 302(g) = 2N2(g) + 6H2O(1) AH=-1530.4 kJ a) Discuss (and provide reasoning) how the ammonia (NH3) concentration will be affected at equilibrium: i) Removing O2: ii) Adding additional water: iii) Increasing volume:

Answer 1

According to le Chatlier's principle, if a system is disturbed by changing is condition such as pressure volume moles or temperature then system try to shift its equilibrium in order to compensate this change or revert this change.

1)If O2 is removed then system will try to compensate this change by adding more O2 to the system by shifting the equilibrium to the left side hence concentration of NH3 is also increased.

2)As water is in liquid state, addition of water doesn't change volume significantly compared to that of gases, so there will be no shift in equilibrium and concentration of NH3 will remain same.

3)As the volume of system is increased, the pressure of the system decreases, so it will try to compensate by producing more moles of gases. We can see that moles of gases in reactant side is more than that of product side so the equilibrium will shift toward left and concentration of NH3 will get increase.