Le Chatelier's Principle

• A system will remain at equilibrium as long as rate of forward and reverse reaction are equal

• A system will no longer be at equilibrium if a change in reaction conditions, or ‘stress’, unequally affects these rates

• Le Chatelier’s principle states if a dynamic equilibrium is disturbed by a change in the reaction conditions, the balance between the forward and reverse processes will shift to counteract the change and return the system to equilibrium

Stress #1: Change in Concentration

• you can increase/ decrease reactants

• you can increase/ decrease products

In terms of concentration, the systems will build/destroy molecules until they are at equilibrium