When is a reaction reversible

This water is driven off when blue hydrated copper II sulfate is heated, leaving white anhydrous copper II sulfate. This reaction is reversible:. CuSO 4. A reversible reaction. Bunsen burner heats a bowl of hydrated copper II sulfate.

Water is driven off, leaving anhydrous copper II sulfate. The burner is turned off and water is added using a pipette. The bowl now contains hydrated copper II sulfate again. When a reversible reaction happens in a closed container, it can achieve a dynamic equilibrium. At equilibrium :. Asked 5 years, 11 months ago. Active 5 years, 11 months ago.

Viewed 12k times. Improve this question. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Improve this answer. However, aluminum smelting factories literally make their living reversing this reaction using kilo-amp electrodes to do it! What is the wavelength where red stops and orange begins?

A similar situation occurs with reversibility--I might have it in my head that around x is where a reaction is generally irreversible, but that number can move a lot depending on the context. Numerical cutoffs are nice and easy to memorize, but they don't always accurately describe reality.

Mithoron Mithoron 4, 12 12 gold badges 36 36 silver badges 55 55 bronze badges. What I'm getting from both your answers are that there are no exact thermodynamic quantities that can limit the reversibility of reactions? All reactions are reversible? All reactions are reversible.

Biochem is what I went to school for, and that's just full of examples of systems that are perfectly reversible - as soon as they're dead and stop eliminating this or that product.

Same is true for physically removing the product. When you put it like that, though, the removal has a free energy too - perhaps if we calculate the whole system we will be able to define reversible more exactly? Thank you all for your answers. I will return if I need further clarification.

Chet Miller Chet Miller An example of an irreversible reaction is combustion. Because water and carbon dioxide are stable, they do not react with each other to form the reactants. Combustion reactions take the following form:. In reversible reactions, the reactants and products are never fully consumed; they are each constantly reacting and being produced. A reversible reaction can take the following summarized form:. These two reactions are occurring simultaneously , which means that the reactants are reacting to yield the products, as the products are reacting to produce the reactants.

Collisions of the reacting molecules cause chemical reactions in a closed system. After products are formed, the bonds between these products are broken when the molecules collide with each other, producing sufficient energy needed to break the bonds of the product and reactant molecules. Reaction 1 and Reaction 2 happen at the same time because they are in a closed system.

Blue : Nitrogen Red : Oxygen. Reaction 1 Reaction 2. Imagine a ballroom. Let reactant A be 10 girls and reactant B be 10 boys. As each girl and boy goes to the dance floor, they pair up to become a product.