Establishment of the chemical equilibrium

Abstract

A chemical equilibrium in a closed system can be considered in a set of states lying inside the band of equilibrium fluctuations of the system composition. This concept enables to define a further characteristic reaction time - the time necessary for reaching the band of equilibrium fluctuations (the time necessary for establishing the equilibrium). It is shown that this time is a linear function of the logarithm of the number of reactant particles in the system. Several ways can be used to define the width of the band of equilibrium fluctuations, but all of them yield approximately identical times necessary for establishing the equilibrium.