What does the equilibrium constant (K_eq) represent?

The equilibrium constant, denoted as (K_{eq}), is a value that expresses the ratio of the concentrations of products to the concentrations of reactants in a chemical reaction at equilibrium. When a system reaches equilibrium, the rates of the forward and reverse reactions become equal, resulting in constant concentrations of reactants and products over time.

Mathematically, for a general reaction represented as:

[ aA + bB \rightleftharpoons cC + dD ]

the equilibrium constant is defined as:

[ K_{eq} = \frac{[C]^c [D]^d}{[A]^a [B]^b} ]

Where [C], [D], [A], and [B] represent the molar concentrations of the products C and D and the reactants A and B, respectively, and (a), (b), (c), and (d) are the stoichiometric coefficients in the balanced chemical equation.

This ratio is significant because it indicates the extent to which a reaction favors the formation of products over reactants at equilibrium. A larger value of (K_{eq}) suggests that, at equilibrium, the concentration of products is much greater than that of react