2.1 Activity- A Mathematic Model of Dynamic Equilibrium That Makes Cents
Table 1: No. of product and reactant species over time
Time (s)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
No.
Reactant
Species
No.
Product
Species
32
16
8
9
9
12
9
10
11
9
0
16
24
23
23
20
23
22
21
23
Figure 1: No. of reactant and product species vs. time
35
No. of Species
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Time (s)
No. Reactant Species
No. Product Species
Results and Discussion:
1. What does turning over a coin represent in this model?
Turning over a coin represents species reacting to go from reactant to product or from product
to reactant
2. Approximately one-half of the reactants are converted into products each second while only
about one-sixth of the products are converted into reactants each second. Identify two possible
reasons for the reverse reaction being more difficult to complete than the forward reaction.
The reverse reaction might be more difficult to complete because it could have a higher
activation energy than the forward reaction or it could need a more specific orientation of the
molecules to allow the bonds to break and the atoms to rearrange.
3. Why should the percentage of tails that react actually increase as the number of tails increases?
As the number of tails increases the concentration of tails in our “system” increases meaning
the tails are more likely to have collisions and react to become heads again.