kinetics and equilibrium
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The first part is kineticsKinetics starts with the idea that reactants need to collide properly with one another in order to react. EVERYTHING comes from this one thought. This informs our conversations about reaction rates. It gives us the basis for Le Chatlier's Principle. It also gives part of the understanding we need when looking at Hess' Law.
I am not going to mention state functions - much.State functions are basically like your best friend who is waiting for you to get to the party... It does not care how you got there, it is just really happy that you did! Enthalpy, Entropy and Gibbs Free energy are State functions and you can calculate them by a process such as Hess' Law, or using the tabulated data to find the difference of the products minus the reactants.
because it's the law, that's why!We can make predictions about the rates of reactions if we know their rate laws. The main secret is that there is no secret - plug in the numbers and solve. Compare ONE data set to ONE other data set at a time. Work with only one variable changing at a time. Oh yeah, like everything else it takes practice to do quickly.
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We all want to shift to put ourselves back to balanceIf you think about what happens when you stand in one place, you might realize that if you are relatively still then you are at equilibrium. When someone gives you a gentle shove and you have to move your feet to remain standing, then you have experienced Le Chatlier's Principle. The shove was a stress on your system and you had to find a new equilibrium a step to the right.
knowing if it is spontaneous will not tell you if it is fast!Gibbs Free Energy calculations using the change in enthalpy, temperature (K), and change in entropy of a system will only tell you if a reaction favors its reactants or products.
Ice ice baby!What could be more fun than applying math to some of the more elusive concepts here? Nothing. So ICE tables, which stands for, "Initial, change, equilibrium," are going to be a lot of fun. When you know an equilibrium constant, and you know where you are starting, you can figure out where you are going to end.
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