[ G ] [ B ] k_f K = ----------- = ---- [ R ] [ Y ] k_rThat is, with the default conditions of k_r = k_f = 0.250 the equilibrium constant K = 1. If you start off with equal numbers of red and yellow, and of green and blue molecules, so that [ R ] = [ Y ] and [ G ] = [ B ] at all times, then at equilibrium you will have the same number of all four types of molecule, because the only way in which
[ G ] [ B ] K = ----------- = 1 [ R ] [ Y ]is if [ R ] = [ G ] = [ B ] = [ Y ]. If, on the other hand, you set k_r = 0.750 and k_f = 0.250, then K = 1/3, and at equilibrium you'd have 1/3 as many green or blue molecules as red or yellow molecules, again assuming you started off with [ R ] = [ Y ] and [ G ] = [ B ], so that there are enough partners for every molecule to have a chance to react.
. [ R ] = 0 . [ Y ] = 0 . [ G ] = 0 . [ B ] = 0Where the expressions on the left-hand side (with the dots on top of the [ ]) mean "the rate of change of [ R ]", "the rate of change of [ Y ]", and so on.
What determines the rate of change of [ R ] ? It must be given by the rate at which G and B molecules are colliding and turning into R and Y molecules minus the rate at which R and Y molecules are colliding and turning back into G and B molecules,
. [ R ] = (rate of G + B --> R + Y) - (rate of R + Y --> G + B)
Now what is (rate of G + B --> R + Y) ? It must be
k_r [ GB ]where [ GB ] is the equilibrium concentration of "colliding" pairs of G and B molecules. That is, the rate of reaction is equal to the concentration of colliding molecules ( [ GB ] ) times the probability that each collision leads to a reaction (k_r).
Well we know k_r, because we chose it. But what is [ GB ] ? We can estimate it as:
[ GB ] = [ G ] P_GBwhere P_GB is the probability that a B molecule is right next to any particular G molecule. That is, the concentration of colliding pairs ( [ GB ] ) is equal to the concentration of G molecules ( [ G ] ) times the probability that a B molecule is next to any given G molecule (P_GB).
There are ways to calculate P_GB carefully, but a crude estimate is just
P_GB = [ B ]That is, we could assume the probability of finding a B molecule next to a G molecule is the same as the average probability of finding a B molecule at any point in the box. This assumes that the presence of the G molecule doesn't change the probability of finding B molecules in the neighborhood. That is clearly not exactly true, but it's not a bad start.
Now we can assemble all our pieces:
P_GB = [ B ]so
[ GB ] = [ G ] P_GB = [ G ] [ B ]and hence
(rate of G + B --> R + Y) = k_r [ GB ] = k_r [ G ] [ B ]and following the same logic
(rate of R + Y --> G + B) = k_f [ RY ] = k_f [ R ] [ Y ]so that finally
. [ R ] = (rate of G + B --> R + Y) - (rate of R + Y --> G + B)becomes
. [ R ] = k_r [ G ] [ B ] - k_f [ R ] [ Y ]
Now remember our initial English statement ``we have reached equilibrium'' is equivalent to the mathematical statement:
. [ R ] = 0Using this fact and our new equation we get:
. [ R ] = 0 = k_r [ G ] [ B ] - k_f [ R ] [ Y ]Which can only be true if
k_r [ G ] [ B ] = k_f [ R ] [ Y ]Rearranging this equation we find:
[ G ] [ B ] k_f ----------- = ---- [ R ] [ Y ] k_rWhich is exactly what we asserted at the very beginning. Science works!