Florian's 3/4 Chem Questions

[FlorianK]

I'm struggling with this question

Use equilibrium equations to explain why chickens lay thinner eggshells in summer.

[charmanderp]

CaCO3(s) + CH3COO-(aq) + H+(aq) -> Ca++(aq) + CH3COO-(aq) + CO2(g) + H2O(l)

I'm not sure about the biology here but here's an equation I've found for eggshells or the laying of eggshells or whatever. Going out on a limb here I'm going to say that during summer chickens (or indeed any animals) exhale more (producing more carbon dioxide) and lose more water. Hence according to Le Chatellier's principle in order to restore that the reaction has to move further forward meaning less calcium carbonate which is the main component of egg shells and hence weaker/thinner shells.

From Wikipedia: "The chicken eggshell is 95-97% calcium carbonate crystals..."

Apologies if this is completely wrong.

[Somye]

Yep, what charmanderp said is right, for the textbook explanation (Heinemann chem 2) check out page 273

[charmanderp]

Yep, what charmanderp said is right, for the textbook explanation (Heinemann chem 2) check out page 273

:')