Chemistry - Equilibrium. PLEASE HELP!?

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wharehousejkpharm

New member
Hey, in chemistry we just started studying equilibrium.

i googled "chemical equilibrium" and this is what i found...

"Chemical equlibrium has been reached in a reaction when the rate of the forward reaction is equal to the rate of the reverse reaction"

What EXACTLY does this mean though?

a) what do they mean by forward reaction and reverse reaction?

b) and how do they equal eachother? like how does the rate of forward reaction equal rate of reverse reaction?

c) when u make a product from a reaction... why does it reverse?? how?!

PLEASE I AM SO CONFUSED... someone please shed some light:(:( please...
 
a) Forward reaction is when the the chemicals on the left of the equation react and gets converted to the products on the right. And reverse reaction is when the products formed from the last reaction are converted to the chemicals on the left again.

b)Well, I don't really get this one :D This just means that chemicals on the left of equation and right are both formed simultaneously and at the same rate and time.

c)How does it reverse? Well, because they react. Suppose, imagine, that in a reaction you form HCL and zn, now you know that they would react again. This reaction though is impossible =D Just take it like this: they both react, to form new compounds, but when the new compounds are formed, they react with each other to form the reactants again. Like a pardox in physics.
 
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