Which condition did you change?
Labs / Chemistry
Le Chatelier
The reaction A + B ⇌ C is already running at equilibrium: forward and reverse collisions balance, so the bars hold steady. Now poke it — add more of something, turn up the heat, or slide the piston in — and watch the mixture shift to relieve the stress before settling at a new balance.
Labs / Chemistry / Le Chatelier
Le Chatelier
The reaction A + B ⇌ C is already running at equilibrium: forward and reverse collisions balance, so the bars hold steady. Now poke it — add more of something, turn up the heat, or slide the piston in — and watch the mixture shift to relieve the stress before settling at a new balance.
Why it matters
Why explore this?
Chemistry connects events too small to see with changes we can measure. This model helps you link particles, energy, and conditions to an observable result.
Explore
Try the model
[A] 0[B] 0[C] 0Shift —
Investigate
Questions to test
Predict first, try it in the model, then use what you observe to answer.
What to try
- Dump in extra reactant. Which way does the mixture shift, and where do the bars end up?
- Squeeze the volume with the piston. Why does crowding the molecules favour the side with fewer particles?
- Heat an exothermic reaction versus an endothermic one — why does the same temperature change push them in opposite directions?
- After the system re-settles, is it truly frozen, or are forward and reverse reactions still happening?
- Can you undo an "add product" stress using only temperature or volume?
Explain
Make sense of what happened
Describe what happened at the particle or energy level, then connect it to the result you saw. A strong explanation names both the cause and the evidence.
Check
Before you leave
What happened to the particles or energy?
What observation supports your explanation?
If you can answer all three using evidence from the model, you understand the main idea. If not, return to Explore and change one setting at a time.