Question

Consider the following reaction: A(g)⇌2B(g). Find the equilibrium partial pressures of A and B for each of the following different values of Kp. Assume that the initial partial pressure of B in each case is 1.0 atm and that the initial partial pressure of A is 0.0 atm. Make any appropriate simplifying assumptions.Kp = 1.4?
Kp = 2.0 * 10^-4?
Kp = 2.0 * 10^5?

Answer 1

Answer:

a. Kp=1.4

$P_{A}=0.2215 atm$

$P_{B}=0.556 atm$

b.Kp=2.0 * 10^-4

$P_{A}=0.495atm$

$P_{B}=0.00995 atm$

c.Kp=2.0 * 10^5

$P_{A}=5*10^{-6}atm$

$P_{B}=0.9999 atm$

Explanation:

For the reaction  

A(g)⇌2B(g)

Kp is defined as:

$Kp=\frac{(P_{B})^{2}}{P_{A}}$

The conditions in the system are:

          A                    B

initial   0                1 atm

equilibrium x       1atm-2x

At the beginning, we don’t have any A in the system, so B starts to react to produce A until the system reaches the equilibrium producing x amount of A. From the stoichiometric relationship in the reaction we get that to produce x amount of A we need to 2x amount of B so in the equilibrium we will have 1 atm – 2x of B, as it is showed in the table.    

Replacing these values in the expression for Kp we get:

$Kp=\frac{(1-2x)^{2}}{x}$

Working with this equation:

$x*Kp=(1-2x)^{2} - -> x*Kp=4x^{2}-4x+1- - >4x^{2}-(4+Kp)*x+1=0$

This last expression is quadratic expression with a=4, b=-(4+Kp) and c=1

The general expression to solve these kinds of equations is:

$x=\frac{-b(+-)*\sqrt{(b^{2}-4ac)}}{2a}$ (equation 1)

We just take the positive values from the solution since negative partial pressures don´t make physical sense.

Kp = 1.4

$x_{1}=\frac{(1.4+4)+\sqrt{(-(1.4+4)^{2}-4*4*1)}}{2*4}=1.128$

$x_{1}=\frac{(1.4+4)-\sqrt{(-(1.4+4)^{2}-4*4*1)}}{2*4}=0.2215$

With x1 we get a partial pressure of:

$P_{A}=1.128 atm$

$P_{B}=1-2*1.128 = -1.256 atm$

Since negative partial pressure don´t make physical sense x1 is not the solution for the system.

With x2 we get:

$P_{A}=0.2215 atm$

$P_{B}=1-2*0.2215 = 0.556 atm$

These partial pressures make sense so x2 is the solution for the equation.

We follow the same analysis for the other values of Kp.

Kp=2*10^-4

X1=0.505

X2=0.495

With x1

$P_{A}=0.505atm$

$P_{B}=1-2*0.505 = -0.01005 atm$

Not sense.

With x2

$P_{A}=0.495atm$

$P_{B}=1-2*0.495 = 0.00995 atm$

X2 is the solution for this equation.  

Kp=2*10^5

X1=50001

$X2=5*10^{-6}$

With x1

$P_{A}=50001atm$

$P_{B}=1-2*50001=-100001atm$

Not sense.

With x2

$P_{A}= 5*10^{-6}atm$

$P_{B}=1-2*5*10^{-6}= 0.9999 atm$

X2 is the solution for this equation.