Chemical Equilibrium vs Dynamic Equilibrium
When one or more reactants are converting to products, they may go through different modifications and energy changes. The chemical bonds in the reactants are breaking, and new bonds are forming to generate products, which are totally different from the reactants. This kind of chemical modification is known as chemical reactions. There are numerous variables controlling the reactions. Mainly, by studying thermodynamics and kinetics, we can draw a lot of conclusions about a reaction and how we can control them. Thermodynamics is the study of transformations of energy. It is concerned with the energetic and the position of the equilibrium in a reaction.
What is Chemical Equilibrium?
Some reactions are reversible, and some reactions are irreversible. In a reaction, reactants are converting to products. And in some reactions, the reactants can be generated again from the products. This type of reactions is called reversible. In irreversible reactions, once the reactants are converted to products, they cannot be regenerate again from the products. In a reversible reaction when reactants are going to products it is called the forward reaction and when products are going to reactants, it is called the backward reaction. When the rate of forward and backward reactions is equal, then the reaction is said to be at equilibrium. So over a period of time the amount of reactants and products are not changing. Reversible reactions always tend to come to equilibrium and maintain that equilibrium. When the system is at equilibrium, the amount of products and the reactants have not to be necessarily equal. There can be a higher amount of reactants than the products or vice versa. The only requirement in an equilibrium equation is to maintain a constant amount from both over time. For a reaction in equilibrium, an equilibrium constant can be defined; where it is equal to the ratio between concentration of products and concentration of reactions.
K= [product]n/[reactant]m n and m are the stoichiometric coefficients of the product and reactant.
For an equilibrium reaction, if the forward reaction is exothermic then the backward reaction is endothermic and vice versa. Normally, all the other parameters for forward and backward reactions are opposite to each other like this. Therefore, if we want to facilitate either one of the reactions, we simply have to adjust the parameters to facilitate that reaction.
What is Dynamic Equilibrium?
Dynamic equilibrium is also a type of equilibrium where the amounts of products and reactants do not change over time. However, in dynamic equilibrium, by saying that the amounts do not change does not mean that the reaction has stopped. Rather, reaction is proceeding in a way that it keeps the amounts unchanged (the net change is zero). Simply the word “dynamic equilibrium” means that the reaction is reversible and still continuing. For a dynamic equilibrium to take place, the system should be a closed one, so that no energy or matter is escaped from the system.
What is the difference between Chemical and Dynamic Equilibrium?
• Dynamic equilibrium is a type of chemical equilibrium.
• In a dynamic equilibrium, the reaction still continues, but the amount of reactants and products remain unchanged because the rates of the forward and backward reactions are the same. There can be some instances in chemical equilibrium where the amounts of products and reactant remain unchanged because the reaction has stopped.