A mathematical approach to chemical equilibrium theory for gaseous systems—I: theory

A mathematical approach to chemical equilibrium theory for gaseous systems IV: a mathematical clarification of Le Chatelier’s principle

“…The equilibrium shift decreases this increase and initiates a change by 0.6973 to 0.6966 from row No. 2 to 3, consistent with Theorem 3 in [15] while shows a backward reaction can reduce the concentration of N 2 as pointed out in the footnote. However, the final equilibrium concentration increased from the old equilibrium concentration by 0.5 to 0.6966 from row No.…”

“…However, the final equilibrium concentration increased from the old equilibrium concentration by 0.5 to 0.6966 from row No. 1 to 3, consistent with Theorem 4 in [15] which states that the new equilibrium concentration cannot be lower than the previous one for the added species. This concept in Theorem 4 can only be taught vaguely without mathematical analysis.…”

“…It can be noted that the philosophy in this new law from mathematics is quite different from that expressed in the traditional statement of Le Chatelier's principle. This mathematical result can be easily verified using the above mentioned examples and will be analyzed mathematically in the last part of this paper according to previous work [15][16][17] which is somewhat different from that presented in Ref. [8].…”

“…By a mathematical [15,17] or a thermodynamical [8] treatment, a universal law (Theorem 3 in [15]) can be postulated to replace Le Chatelier's principle which accounts for the above mentioned facts i.e. that the equilibrium is shifted to reduce the change in intensive variable while enhancing the change in extensive variable when these are a pair of conjugated variables [8].…”

“…4 together with the solutions provided in Sects. 2 and 3, develop a theoretical system, simple enough to be suitable at college level to describe chemical equilibrium and complementary to our previous work [15][16][17]. It can be seen that this theoretical approach is developed differently from that suggested by simple logical analysis in elementary chemistry.…”