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Encyclopedia > Reversible reaction

A reversible reaction is a chemical reaction that may proceed in both the forward and reverse directions. In other words, the reactant and product of one reaction may reverse roles, without adding chemicals. A chemical reaction is a process that results in the interconversion of chemical substances [1]. The substance or substances initially involved in a chemical reaction are called reactants. ... A reactant or reagent is any substance initially present in a chemical reaction. ... A chemical substance is any material substance used in or obtained by a process in chemistry: A chemical compound is a substance consisting of two or more chemical elements that are chemically combined in fixed proportions. ...


Symbolically:


aA + bB leftrightarrow cC + dD - products C and D are produced from reactants A and B, but C and D can react to form A and B.


In an irreversible reaction the equilibrium states are shifted so close to either the products or the reactants that the reaction effectively does not have an equilibrium between the products and the reactants. Hence, irreversible reactions can be viewed as an extreme, "special case" of reversible reactions. Irreversible reactions are often called "spontaneous" or "favorable". These reactions are usually entropically driven, as opposed to thermodynamically driven. In an irreversible reaction, there is generally a great increase in entropy. Chemical equilibrium is the state in which a chemical reaction proceeds at the same rate as its reverse reaction; the rates of the forward and reverse reactions are equal, and the concentration of the reactants and products stop changing. ... A reactant or reagent is any substance initially present in a chemical reaction. ... Thermodynamics (from the Greek thermos meaning heat and dynamis meaning power) is a branch of physics that studies the effects of changes in temperature, pressure, and volume on physical systems at the macroscopic scale by analyzing the collective motion of their particles using statistics. ... Ice melting - a classic example of entropy increasing In thermodynamics, thermodynamic entropy (or simply entropy) S is an important state function of a thermodynamic system: that is, a property depending only on the current state of the system, independent of how that state came to be achieved. ...


Metabolic pathways are a series of biochemical reactions which are, as a whole, irreversible. If the biochemical reactions involved in this process were reversible, we would convert our own DNA back to food molecules if we stop eating even for a short period of time. Santorio Santorio (1561-1636) in his steelyard balance, from Ars de statica medecina, first published 1614 Metabolism (from μεταβολισμος (metabolismos)) is the biochemical modification of chemical compounds in living organisms anggjgjhnd cell (b). ...


See also


  Results from FactBites:
 
Reversibility - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (245 words)
Reversible dynamics - a mathematical dynamical system, or physical laws of motion, for which time-reversed dynamics are well defined.
A reversible process in thermodynamics, a process or cycle such that the net change at each stage in the combined entropy of the system and its surroundings is zero.
A reversible reaction in chemistry, for which the position of the chemical equilibrium is very sensitive to the imposed physical conditions; so the reaction can be made to run either forwards or in reverse by changing those conditions.
Incomplete/ Reversible reaction (1070 words)
A reversible reaction is a chemical reaction that may be reversed.
An incomplete reaction is a reaction in which neither of the reactants is depleted.
One could have a reversible reaction that is either complete or incomplete, or one could have an irreversible reaction that is complete or incomplete.
  More results at FactBites »


 

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