This in-class exercise for general chemistry is designed to display the effects of kinetics and equilibrium equations as students use an Excel spreadsheet to simulate a hypothetical chemical reaction under changing conditions and materials being added/removed. In practice, each group was given a different scenario. After they ran the simulation, they were asked to explain the changes that occurred in reactant and product amounts/concentrations in the given scenario.
The after-class handout gives students a complete view of how the rates, amounts, concentrations, and reaction quotient change in all the different scenarios seen in the in-class activity. The intuition codified in the Le Chatelier's Principle is directly visualized in the progressive readouts of the hypothetical reaction.
