What Are Reversible Reactions?

Learn about reversible reactions. Find out where you can find them and what they actually are. In this lesson, we will learn about reversible reactions. When we fry an egg, it is impossible to 'unfry' it. A lot of reactions work in the same way, once it is done, it is irreversible. A good example is the combustion of magnesium to form magnesium oxide. Reversible reactions are reactions where formed products can revert, or go back, to their original reactants. Since the reaction can proceed in either direction, we use this reaction arrow to represent reversibility. An example of a reversible reaction is the thermal decomposition of ammonium chloride to form ammonia and hydrogen chloride. Place ammonium chloride in a boiling tube and heat using a Bunsen burner. Ensure that this is conducted in a fume cupboard as ammonia and hydrogen chloride are both corrosive gases. If we hold red litmus paper at the mouth of the boiling tube, it turns blue, which confirms the presence of ammonia. Blue litmus paper turns red, which confirms the presence of hydrogen chloride. Remove the boiling tube from the heat and let cool. Have a look near the mouth of the boiling tube. You will see that there are white crystals, these are ammonium chloride crystals. So what has happened here? Ammonium chloride has thermally decomposed to ammonia and hydrogen chloride. The formed ammonia and hydrogen chloride have reacted to produce ammonium chloride. Hence, ammonium chloride ammonia + hydrogen chloride. Therefore, this is a reversible reaction. Why is the thermal decomposition of ammonium chloride sometimes incorrectly called a 'sublimation reaction'? When a substance goes from the solid phase to a gas phase, it is said that it has sublimed. This phase change is not a 'reaction', as the substance itself has not changed. In our example, solid ammonium chloride did not form gaseous ammonium chloride, but rather, it decomposed under heat to form ammonia and hydrogen chloride. Therefore, it is not a 'sublimation reaction'.