7.6 Properties of the Equilibrium Constant

Represent a multistep process with an overall equilibrium expression, using the constituent K expressions for each individual reaction.

• When a reaction is reversed, K is inverted.
• When the stoichiometric coefficients of a reaction are multiplied by a factor c, K is raised to the power c.
• When reactions are added together, the K of the resulting overall reaction is the product of the K’s for the reactions that were summed.
• Since the expressions for K and Q have identical mathematical forms, all valid algebraic manipulations of K also apply to Q.