Thank you for your help kiwiberry
I was also wondering what would happen if you add water to a reaction?
Would it always decrease the concentration of reactants so it'll favour the side that produces more molecules/particles? Or will there be situations where nothing happens to the equilibrium position? I also wanted confirm that adding a inert gas (noble gas) to a reaction will not change the equilibrium position
For a rate vs time equilibrium graph if you add heat would the graph dramatically increase(vertical line?)
I'm not sure about the water and inert gas, but my guess is that water will dilute any aqueous substances, and the equilibrium will shift to favour the side which increases the concentrations of these substances again. However in theory, other liquids shouldn't affect position of equilibrium because, like solids, their concentration is fixed. I don't think inert gases would affect equilibrium, unless they affect the pressure in some way? Don't take my word for this!!
If you're talking about the graphs like these, heat added wouldn't result in a sudden change. It would be a gradual increase like at t3:
(Image removed from quote.)
Just clearing things up a bit
If you add water, it dilutes the solution so the concentration of all the products and reactants decreases. Kiwi, while adding water doesn't change the number of each molecule, it does increase the volume and therefore decreases concentration, this is what causes equilibrium to shift, as it relies on concentration. So if a solution is diluted, equilibrium will shift to favour the side with more molecules (you can figure this out using K - not sure if you're familiar with it - but in order for K to remain constant, if the concentration of everything decreases, the side with more molecules is going to partially increase in concentration, and the side with less is going to decrease, to keep K constant. If you haven't been taught this, ignore it.) Nothing happens to the equilibrium position if the number of molecules on each side is the same.
Adding a noble/inert gas will not change the equilibrium position. Equilibrium depends on concentration. So while adding an inert gas will increase the overall pressure (/concentration) of the molecules in the vessel, the concentration (/pressure) of each substance will remain the same, therefore nothing changes.
For a rate vs time equilibrium graph, yes the graph would go vertically up as the rate is suddenly increasing
Hope this explains things a bit
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