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When a reaction is at chemical equilibrium, what is true about the forward and reverse reactions?

1 Answer

Dec 10, 2016

The condition of equilibrium specifies equality between forward and reverse rates.

Explanation:

$A + B ⇌ C + D$ $A+BrightleftharpoonsC+D$

There is a rate forward, $k_{f} [A] [B]$ $k_f[A][B]$ , and a rate backward, $k_{r} [C] [D]$ $k_r[C][D]$ .

At $equilibrium$ $"equilibrium"$ these rates are equal, i.e.

$k_{f} [A] [B] = k_{r} [C] [D]$ $k_f[A][B]=k_r[C][D]$ , on rearrangement,

$\frac{k_{f}}{k_{r}} = \frac{[C] [D]}{[A] [B]}$ $k_f/k_r=([C][D])/([A][B])$

The quotient, $\frac{k_{f}}{k_{r}}$ $k_f/k_r$ , is better know as $K_{eq}$ $K_"eq"$ , the equilibrium constant. It must be experimentally measured.

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