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  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 2008  > August  >
Research: Science and Education
Does the Addition of Inert Gases at Constant Volume and Temperature Affect Chemical Equilibrium?
João C. M. Paiva and Jorge Gonçalves
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Portugal;

Susana Fonseca
Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Portugal

Cover
August 2008
Vol. 85 No. 8
p. 1133
Abstract
In this article we examine three approaches, leading to different conclusions, for answering the question "Does the addition of inert gases at constant volume and temperature modify the state of equilibrium?" In the first approach, the answer is yes as a result of a common students' alternative conception; the second approach, valid only for ideal mixtures of gases, leads to a negative response, and in the third approach the answer is "a little" obtained from a more universal explanation. This last approach, ignored even in advanced chemistry textbooks, is valid for real mixtures of gases and the effects start to become verifiable at moderate pressures. Le Châtelier's principle application to pressure variations is explored in the context of the results from the different approaches.
Supplement
Detailed quantitative processes and equilibrium compositions
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Contents
  JCE2008p1133W.pdf
 
 
More Information
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Citation
Paiva, João C. M.; Gonçalves, Jorge; Fonseca, Susana. J. Chem. Educ. 2008, 85, 1133.
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Keywords
Equilibrium; First-Year Undergraduate / General; Gases; Misconceptions / Discrepant Events; Physical Chemistry; Thermodynamics
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History
Created:
Last Updated:
6/23/2008
7/2/2008
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