Dynamic equilibrium molecules

Summarizing, once this system has reached dynamic equilibrium, molecules continue to leave the liquid phase for the gas phase, but the liquid captures equal numbers of molecules from the gas. The amount of water in each phase remains the same (equilibrium) even though molecules continue to move back and forth between the gas and the liquid (dynamic). As with dye dispersed in water, no net change occurs after equilibrium is established. 

The second part of Figure 14-1 shows a molecular view of what happens in the two bulbs. Recall from Chapter 5 that the molecules of a gas are in continual motion. The NO2 molecules in the filled bulb are always moving, undergoing countless collisions with one another and with the walls of their container. When the valve between the two bulbs is opened, some molecules move into the empty bulb, and eventually the concentration of molecules in each bulb is the same. At this point, the gas molecules are in a state of dynamic equilibrium. Molecules still move back and forth between the two bulbs, but the concentration of molecules in each bulb remains the same. 

The BET treatment is based on a kinetic model of the adsorption process put forward more than sixty years ago by Langmuir, in which the surface of the solid was regarded as an array of adsorption sites. A state of dynamic equilibrium was postulated in which the rate at which molecules arriving from the gas phrase and condensing on to bare sites is equal to the rate at which molecules evaporate from occupied sites. 

Stratospheric ozone is in a dynamic equilibrium with a balance between the chemical processes of formation and destruchon. The primary components in this balance are ultraviolet (UV) solar radiation, oxygen molecules (O2), and oxygen atoms (O) and may be represented by the following reactions ... 

All of us are familiar with the process of vaporization, in which a liquid is converted to a gas, commonly referred to as a vapor. In an open container, evaporation continues until all the liquid is gone. If the container is closed, the situation is quite different. At first, the movement of molecules is primarily in one direction, from liquid to vapor. Here, however, the vapor molecules cannot escape from the container. Some of them collide with the surface and reenter the liquid. As time passes and the concentration of molecules in the vapor increases, so does the rate of condensation. When the rate of condensation becomes equal to the rate of vaporization, the liquid and vapor are in a state of dynamic equilibrium ... 

When a solid, such as ice, is in contact with its liquid form, such as water, at certain conditions of temperature and pressure (at 0°C and 1 atm for water), the two states of matter are in dynamic equilibrium with each other, and there is no tendency for one form of matter to change into the other form. When solid and liquid water are at equilibrium, water molecules continually leave solid ice to form liquid water, and water molecules continually leave the liquid phase to form ice. However there is no net change, because these processes occur at the same rate and so balance each other. 

Whenever we see the symbol it means that the species on both sides of the symbol are in dynamic equilibrium with each other. Although products (water molecules in the gas phase) are being formed from reactants (water molecules in the liquid phase), the products are changing back into reactants at a matching rate. With this picture in mind, we can now define the vapor pressure of a liquid (or a... 

FIGURE 8.17 The solute in a saturated solution is in dynamic equilibrium with the undissolved solute If we could follow the solute particles (yellow spheres), we would sometimes find them in solution and sometimes back within the solid. Red, green, and blue lines represent the paths of individual solute particles. The solvent molecules are not shown. 

Almost all aquatic organisms rely on the presence of dissolved oxygen for respiration. Although oxygen is nonpolar, it is very slightly soluble in water and the extent to which it dissolves depends on its pressure. We have already seen (in Section 4.2) that the pressure of a gas arises from the impacts of its molecules. When a gas is introduced into the same container as a liquid, the gas molecules can burrow into the liquid like meteorites plunging into the ocean. Because the number of impacts increases as the pressure of a gas increases, we should expect the solubility of the gas—its molar concentration when the dissolved gas is in dynamic equilibrium with the free gas—to increase as its pressure increases. If the gas above the liquid is a mixture (like air), then the solubility of each component depends on that component s partial pressure (Fig. 8.21). 

The diversity of these subcellular actin structures is remarkable and appears to be determined by the interactions of many actin-binding proteins (ABPs) as well as by changes in the concentrations of intracellular signaling molecules such as Ca and cAMP, by small GTP-binding proteins, and by signals arising from mechanical stress. Approximately 50% of the actin molecules in most animal cells are unpolymerized subunits in the cytosolic pool and exist in a state of dynamic equilibrium with labile F-actin filamentous structures (i.e., new structures are formed while existing structures are renewed) (Hall, 1994). 

This condition of balanced motion is called dynamic equilibrium. Although a dynamic system contains objects that move continuously, a system at equilibrium shows no change in its observable properties. Our example of ink in water is dynamic because the water and ink molecules continually move about. The mixture is at equilibrium when the color is uniform and unchanging. In any part of the solution, ink molecules continue to move, but the number of ink molecules in each region does not change. 

Wet towels hung on a clothesline eventually dry, because the continual motion of molecules in liquid water allows some molecules to escape from the liquid phase (Figure 2-9aV A wet towel left in a closed washing machine, however, stays wet for a long time. This is because water molecules that escape from the surface of the towel remain within the washing chamber (Figure 2-9b). The number of water molecules in the gas phase increases, and the towel recaptures some of these molecules when they collide with its surface. The system soon reaches a condition of dynamic equilibrium in which, for every water molecule that leaves the surface of the towel, one water molecule returns from the gas phase to the towel (Figure 2-9cV Under these conditions, the towel remains wet indefinitely. 

C02-0037. Iodine is an element whose molecules can move directly from the solid to the gas phase. A sample of solid iodine in a stoppered flask stood undisturbed for several years. As the photo shows, crystals of solid iodine grew on the sides of the flask. Use the principle of dynamic equilibrium to explain at the molecular level what happened. Include an observation about the color of the atmosphere inside the flask. 

C02-0097. The element bromine exists as diatomic molecules and is a liquid under normal conditions. Bromine evaporates easily, however, giving a red-brown color to the gas phase above liquid bromine, as shown in the photo. Draw molecular pictures showing liquid bromine, the gas above it, and the dynamic equilibrium between the phases. 

Other reactions do not go to completion because they reach dynamic equilibrium. While reactant molecules continue to form product molecules, product molecules also interact to re-form reactant molecules. The Haber reaction and many precipitation reactions, described later in this chapter, are examples of reactions that reach d3Tiamic equilibrium rather than going to completion. We treat chemical equilibria in detail in Chapters 16-18. 

The system is dynamic because molecular transfers continue, and it has reached equilibrium because no further net change occurs. The pressure of the vapor at dynamic equilibrium is called the vapor pressure (v p) of the substance. The vapor pressure of any substance increases rapidly with temperature because the kinetic energies of the molecules increase as the temperature rises. Table lists the vapor pressures for water at various temperatures. We describe intermolecular forces and vapor pressure in more detail in Chapter 11. 

If the concentration of a solute is lower than its solubility, additional solute can dissolve, but once the concentration of solute reaches the solubility of that substance, no further net changes occur. Individual solute molecules still enter the solution, but the solubility process is balanced by precipitation, as Figure 12-6 illustrates. A saturated solution in contact with excess solute is in a state of dynamic equilibrium. For eveiy molecule or ion that enters the solution, another returns to the solid state. We represent d Tiamic equilibria by writing the equations using double arrows, showing that both processes occur simultaneously ... 

When a solution is saturated, there is dynamic equilibrium. Solute molecules move back and forth between the solute phase and the solution phase at equal rates. 

Several observations show that saturated solutions are at dynamic equilibrium. For example, if O2 gas enriched in the oxygen-18 isotope is introduced into the gas phase above water that is saturated with oxygen gas, the gas in the solution eventually also becomes enriched in the heavier isotope. As another example, if finely divided ciystalline salt is in contact with a saturated solution of the salt, the small crystals slowly disappear and are replaced by larger crystals. Each of these observations shows that molecules are moving between the two phases, yet the concentrations of the saturated solutions remain constant. 

The easiest of the colligative properties to visualize is the effect of solute molecules on the vapor pressure exerted by a liquid. In a closed system, the solvent and its vapor reach dynamic equilibrium at a partial pressure of solvent equal to the vapor pressure. At this pressure, the rate of condensation of solvent vapor equals the rate of evaporation from the liquid. 

Molecular views of the rates of solid-liquid phase transfer of a pure liquid and a solution at the normal freezing point. The addition of solute does not change the rate of escape from the solid, but it decreases the rate at which the solid captures solvent molecules from the solution. This disrupts the dynamic equilibrium between escape and capture. 

The addition of solutes decreases the freezing point of a solution. In the solution, solvent molecules collide with crystals of solid solvent less frequently than they do in the pure solvent. Consequently, fewer molecules are captured by the solid phase than escape from the solid to the liquid. Cooling the solution restores dynamic equilibrium because it simultaneously reduces the number of molecules that have sufficient energy to break away from the surface of the solid and increases the number of molecules in the liquid with small enough kinetic energy to be captured by the solid. 

The effect of a solute on the boiling point of a solution is opposite to its effect on the freezing point. A nonvolatile solute inereases the boiling point of a solution. This is because the solute blocks some of the solvent molecules from reaching the surface of the solution and thus decreases the rate of escape into the gas phase. To get back to dynamic equilibrium, the solution must be heated so that more molecules acquire sufficient energy to escape from the liquid phase. 

If a semipermeable membrane separates two identical solutions, solvent molecules move in both directions at the same rate, and there is no net osmosis. The two sides of the membrane are at dynamic equilibrium. The situation changes when the solutions on the two sides of the membrane are different. Consider the membrane in Figure 12-14a. which has pure water on one side and a solution of sugar in water on the other. The sugar molecules reduce the concentration of solvent molecules in the solution. Consequently, fewer solvent molecules pass through the membrane from the solution side than from the pure solvent side. Water flows from the side containing pure solvent to the side containing solution, so there is a net rate of osmosis. 

In the absence of other forces, osmosis continues until the concentration of solvent is the same on both sides of the membrane. However, pressure can be used to stop this process. An increase in pressure on the solution side pushes solvent molecules against the membrane and thereby increases the rate of transfer of water molecules from the solution side to the solvent side. Figure 12-14Z> shows that dynamic equilibrium can be established by increasing the pressure on the solution until the rate of solvent transfer is equal in both directions. 

Collisions between NO2 molecules produce N2 O4 and consume NO2. At the same time, fragmentation of N2 O4 produces NO2 and consumes N2 O4. When the concentration of N2 O4 is veiy low, the first reaction occurs more often than the second. As the N2 O4 concentration increases, however, the rate of fragmentation increases. Eventually, the rate of N2 O4 production equals the rate of its decomposition. Even though individual molecules continue to combine and decompose, the rate of one reaction exactly balances the rate of the other. This is a dynamic equilibrium. At dynamic equilibrium, the rates of the forward and reverse reactions are equal. The system is dynamic because individual molecules react continuously. It is at equilibrium because there is no net change in the system. 

Vapor pressure provides a simple illustration of why adding a pure liquid or solid does not change equilibrium concentrations. Recall from Chapter H that any liquid establishes a dynamic equilibrium with its vapor, and the partial pressure of the vapor at equilibrium is the vapor pressure. The vapor pressure is independent of the amount of liquid present. Figure 16-8 illustrates that the vapor pressure of water above a small puddle is the same as the vapor pressure above a large pond at the same temperature. More molecules escape from the larger surface of the pond, but more molecules are captured, too. The balance between captures and escapes is the same for both puddle and pond. 

This approach does not preclude gels having special, additional properties of their own due to peculiarities of their molecules. Such an example was in the thixotrophy of borax gels caused by the dynamic equilibrium of the bonds. Even gels that are formed by two apparently different mechanisms have the same fundamental gelling characteristics. For a timely and exhaustive review on gelling systems the reader should refer to the recent work of Whistler and BeMiller (if). 

A state of dynamic equilibrium exists between the ionized and the non-ionized molecules (XY (non-ionized molecule) X+ (cation) + Y (anion)). The process of electrolytic dissociation is reversible. 

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