Prev. Article Next Article Table of Contents

Demo

Simulating Dynamic Equilibria: A Class Experiment

Citing Articles

Your current credentials do not allow retrieval of the full text.

Purchase the full-text

PDF/HTML,
figures/images,
references and tables,
(where available)

Paul D. Buckley

Institute of Fundamental Sciences, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand and

John A. Harrison

Institute of Fundamental Sciences, Massey University, Albany, Auckland, New Zealand

J. Chem. Educ., 2000, 77 (8), p 1013

DOI: 10.1021/ed077p1013

Publication Date (Web): August 1, 2000

Abstract

A first-order reversible reaction is simulated on an overhead projector using small coins or discs. A simulation is carried out in which initially there are 24 discs representing reactant A and none representing reactant B. At the end of each minute half of the reactant A discs get converted to reactant B, and one quarter of the reactant B discs get converted to reactant A discs. Equilibrium is established with 8 A discs and 16 B discs, and no further net change is observed as the simulation continues. Another simulation beginning with 48 A discs and 0 B discs leads at equilibrium to 16 A discs and 32 B discs. These results illustrate how dynamic equilibria are established and allow the introduction of the concept of an equilibrium constant. Le Châtelier's principle is illustrated by further simulations.

Keywords (Audience):

High School / Introductory Chemistry

Keywords (Domain):

Demonstrations

Keywords (Feature):

Overhead Projector Demonstrations

Keywords (Subject):

Equilibrium

View: Hi-Res PDF | PDF w/ Links

Citing Articles

View all 1 citing articles

Citation data is made available by participants in CrossRef's Cited-by Linking service. For a more comprehensive list of citations to this article, users are encouraged to perform a search in SciFinder.

This article has been cited by 1 ACS Journal articles (1 most recent appear below).

Understanding Chemical Reaction Kinetics and Equilibrium with Interlocking Building Blocks
Carrie A. Cloonan, Carolyn A. Nichol, and John S. Hutchinson
Journal of Chemical Education2011 88 (10), 1400-1403
- Understanding Chemical Reaction Kinetics and Equilibrium with Interlocking Building Blocks
  Carrie A. Cloonan, Carolyn A. Nichol, and John S. Hutchinson
  Journal of Chemical Education2011 88 (10), 1400-1403
  Chemical reaction kinetics and equilibrium are essential core concepts of chemistry but are challenging topics for many students, both at the high school and undergraduate university level. Visualization at the molecular level is valuable to aid ...
  Abstract | Full Text HTML | Hi-Res PDF | PDF w/ Links