Physics: Le Chatelier's principle

Le Chatelier's principle In chemistry, Le Chatelier's principle (pronounced UK: or US: ) is a principle used to predict the effect of a change in conditions on chemical equilibrium.

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Commentary

Le Chatelier's principle In chemistr y, Le Chatelier's principle (pronounced UK: or US: ) is a principle used to predict the effect of a change in conditions on chemical equilibrium.

Commentary

Why does Le Chatelier's principle matter? This principle is one of the building blocks physicists use to explain the world. Without it, a whole class of phenomena would have no mathematical description. Engineers, chemists, and astronomers all rely on it. If the equilibrium of a system is disturbed by a change in one or more of the determining factors (as temperature, pressure, or concentration) the system tends to adjust itself to a new equilibrium by counteracting as far as possible the effect of the change In scenarios outside thermodynamic equilibrium, there can arise phenomena in contradiction to an over-general statement of Le Chatelier's principle. Le Chatelier's principle is sometimes alluded to in discussions of topics other than thermodynamics.

Commentary

Background: Le Chatelier's principle In chemistry, Le Chatelier's principle (pronounced UK: or US: ) is a principle used to predict the effect of a change in conditions on chemical equilibrium. Other names include Chatelier's principle, Braun–Le Chatelier principle, Le Chatelier–Braun principle or the equilibrium law. The principle is named after French chemist Henry Louis Le Chatelier, who enunciated the principle in 1884 by extending the reasoning from the Van 't Hoff relation of how temperature variations changes the equilibrium to the variations of pressure and what's now called chemical potential, and sometimes also credited to Karl Ferdinand Braun, who discovered it independently in 1887. It can be defined as: If the equilibrium of a system is disturbed by a change in one or more of the determining factors (as temperature, pressure, or concentration) the system tends to adjust itself to a new equilibrium by counteracting as far as possible the effect of the change In scenarios outside thermodynamic equilibrium, there can arise phenomena in contradiction to an over-general statement of Le Chatelier's principle. Le Chatelier's principle is sometimes alluded to in discussions of topics other than thermodynamics.