Haber-Bosch ammonia synthesis reaction: 3HX2+NX2⟶2NHX3
According to the ideal gas law: pV=nRT where constant volume implies nV=pRT
Then Kc=[NHX3]2[HX2]3⋅[NX2]
When I substitute nV=c=pgasRT I get:
Kc=(p(NH3)RT)2(p(H2)RT)3(p(N2)RT)=R2T2p2
But according to Le Chatelier's principle, increased pressure should result in an increased Kc, but my Kc≈1p2.
Where is the error? Is is impossible to combine the partial pressures like that because they scale differently with total pressure? Can one derive from the gas law the pressure dependency of this reaction?
Edit after solved:
First mistake was that the formula had Kc (constant) instead of Q, Q=(p(NH3)RT)2(p(H2)RT)3(p(N2)RT)=R2T2p2 where Q is the current value/ratio of concentrations, so the reaction tries to get Q back to Kc so for greater pressure p, Q is smaller so the reaction goes in the direction of NH3...
Answer
How do you know that pNHX3, pHX2 and pNX2 are all same and all equals p. You can't just substitute same p for all of them because according to Le-chatterlier's principle, the increase in total pressure of the system, distorts the equilibrium, but your p is not at all total pressure. So, you can't just say anything from your result. By the formula, Kp=Kx(P)Δn you can say something. Here P is the total pressure of the system. (This is because the formula is derived by using Dalton's law of partial pressure which says, pi=xi˙P where pi is the partial prssure of the ith gas, xi is its mole fraction and P is the total pressure of the system.)
Here Δn=−2, so ,Kp=Kx/P2 If you now increase p at constant temperature, Kp remains constant as it depends only on temperature. So, Kx also increases to make Kp remain constant, but Kx=x2NHX3/x3HX2⋅xNX2=n2NHX3˙N2/n3HX2⋅nNX2 where, N=nNHX3+nNX2+nHX2
Kx increasing means that the moles of NHX3 increase while the moles of HX2 and NX2 decrease, which is the favour of forward reaction and as Kp=Kc(RT)Δn here Δn=−2 and the temperature doesn't change so Kc=Kp(RT)2−>Kc∝Kp As Kp increases, Kc also increases.
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