3 Chemical Equilibrium#
Introduction#
The influence of chemical equilibrium and kinetics on the progress of chemical reactions often determines the abundance, distribution, and fate of substances in the environment. An understanding of the basic concepts of chemical equilibrium and chemical kinetics, therefore, may help us to explain and predict the environmental concentrations of inorganic and organic species in aqueous systems, whether these species are present naturally or have been introduced by humans.
Equilibrium principles can be used to explain how Earth came to be and how humans are changing the entire planet dramatically. Watch the video below as narrated by the famous environmental scientist David Attenborough.
In the previous chapter, we learned about the foundation principles of thermodynamics, including the laws of thermodynamics. These foundational principles explain why reactions happen. In this chapter, we will focus on the terminology of chemical reactions and the predictive power of thermodynamics in various environmental systems.
Learning Goals#
Learning Goals
The main goals for this chapter are to:
learn basic principles of chemical equilibrium
describe the law of mass action and the equilbrium constant
apply the equibrium constant to predict outcomes of reactive systems