Versed and Reversed: A Meter for Mobile Equilibrium For Michael Kasha on his 70th birthday
Professor:
Student:
Union of coal with oxygen is combuati,,n It's often used to cook hurgers to perfection These when eaten amongst friends give satisfaction Hur in le ChBtelier'r company an uneasy reflection. llnion of coal with O-two is energetic It-Ycalled in jargon chpmical exothermic I t gives copious heat a t rates much too prolific And when uncontrolled may explode pyrotechnic Now the principle of mobile equilibrium That years ago sprang from Le Chdrelier'a r e r e b ~ m Clearly stntea that chemicals in equilihrium Shift &d scuny to annul any change forced on 'em If the reacting molecules produce any heat As the gentlymnoldering coals when you cook meat You'll only douse their enthusiasm to react Accordine - to Learned Le ChHtelier.. if vou . heat. Yet as you and and I who have both cooked on a fire know Bright fire heated does not diminish t o a glow Nor do the twinkling emhen that gently flow Burst into brighter flames when we cool them to slow. How then can one reconcile the faets so perverse With a theorv,esteemed bv scientists diverse? N w that in my P. Chem course your brains you immerse Resolve this riddle in plain p m e or proper verse.
My dear professor, I did hear you prate Once when I was not in a sleeping state That equilibrium differs from rate The latter is speed and the former, fate. The priniciple has nothing to state When i t comes to the question of rate Any given reaction may reach its fate Tumhline- fast or crawline willy uilly late. If you confine a sample of carbon Il'ith irs oxides and also some oxygen You'll frnd a different situation Than when coals in blowing oxygen burn. Let the vessel temperature increase You will find the moles of oxygen decrease Until all of the changes do surcease Aa though they have the principle to please. Sir, there is no riddle here, none of course, If we stick to nrmer . words in discourse Now that I've answered your question with force Shan't I be given a n A in the course?
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Acknowledgment For help with prosody Thanka to Carolyn V. G. K. Vemulapalll University of Arizona Tucson. AZ 85721
Volume 67
Number 12
December 1990
1003
