In this video, we're going to continue our discussion of chemical equilibria by taking a look at the equilibrium constant and its relationship to thermodynamics. Earlier, we learned that kinetics or chemical kinetics studied the rate at which our reactants changed into products. Basically, we're looking at the rate or speed of reactions. In this chapter, we're now going to learn about thermodynamics. And thermodynamics deals with the direction that a chemical reaction at equilibrium will shift. So, thermodynamics deals with the direction a reaction takes whereas kinetics looks at the rate or speed at which a reaction occurs. You need to look at both of them to get a complete idea of a chemical reaction.
Now, we're going to say here that Le Chatelier's principle states that once a system is disturbed, it will do whatever it can to get back to equilibrium. So basically, you do something to try to alter the equilibrium state, and the chemical reaction shifts to the left or to the right in order to minimize that effect. Now knowing this, let's try to attempt to answer the questions below and look at the different things that we can do to a chemical reaction and, as a result of that change, what happens to our chemical reaction.