A reaction mixture shows no observable concentration change over a 5-minute period

CHEMISTRY · Subjective · A Level · Chemistry · Chemical equilibria (Le Chatelier’s principle and Kc) · Chemical equilibria (Le Chatelier’s principle and Kc)

Problem

A reaction mixture shows no observable concentration change over a 5-minute period, even though the rate constants for both the forward and reverse reactions are 5.0×10−6 s−15.0 \times 10^{-6}\,\text{s}^{-1} at the reaction temperature. In one sentence, explain why the lack of observable change does not necessarily prove that the system is at equilibrium.

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