Law of mass action
Ley de acción de masas (equilibrio químico)
- Date
- 1864 · confidence high
- Place
- Christiania (Oslo), Norway
- Credited to
- Cato Guldberg and Peter Waage
- People
- 👤 Cato Maximilian Guldberg1836–1902👤 Peter Waage1833–1900
- Field
- Matter & energy
What was discovered
The rate of a reaction is proportional to the product of the concentrations of the reactants and, at equilibrium, the forward and reverse rates become equal, defining an equilibrium constant. The quantitative basis of chemical equilibrium.
Published in Norwegian in 1864; internationally recognised after the German version of 1879.
What it led to
- Equilibrium constant
- Chemical kinetics
- Le Chatelier's principle
- Optimisation of industrial processes
Built on
- Berthollet's chemical affinity
- Berthelot and Péan de Saint-Gilles's esterification experiments