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A traffic warden working at a busy city intersection becomes sleepy after a few hours work - VCE - SSCE Chemistry - Question 12 - 2004 - Paper 1
Question 12
A traffic warden working at a busy city intersection becomes sleepy after a few hours work. The atmosphere at the intersection is found to contain several parts per ... show full transcript
Worked Solution & Example Answer:A traffic warden working at a busy city intersection becomes sleepy after a few hours work - VCE - SSCE Chemistry - Question 12 - 2004 - Paper 1
Step 1
On the basis of this information, the equilibrium constant for the forward reaction of this equation is:
Answer
To determine the equilibrium constant of the reaction, we need to analyze the nature of the reaction involving hemoglobin (Hb) and carbon monoxide (CO).
The reaction indicates that carbon monoxide binds to hemoglobin, forming carboxyhemoglobin (HbCO). Due to the presence of CO in the atmosphere at several parts per million, it can be inferred that the concentration of carbon monoxide is significantly affecting the equilibrium of the reaction.
Since CO has a much higher affinity for hemoglobin than oxygen, it can be concluded that under high CO concentration, more HbCO will be formed. In this scenario, the formation of carboxyhemoglobin is favored, leading to an equilibrium constant (K) that is greater than one. Therefore, the correct answer is:
B. greater than one.