Partition Equilibrium - Example

Example

For example, ammonia (NH3) is soluble in both water (aq) and the organic solvent trichloromethane (CHCl3) - two immiscible solvents. If ammonia is first dissolved in water, and then an equal volume of trichloromethane is added, and the two liquids shaken together, the following equilibrium is established:

Kc = / (where Kc is the equilibrium constant)

The equilibrium concentrations of ammonia in each layer can be established by titration with standard acid solution. It can thus be determined that Kc remains constant, with a value of 0.4 in this case.

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