In the Beginning was Information

continually shifts in order to avoid external forces (e. g. temperature,pressure, concentration of the reactionary partner).Example: In the case of a reaction linked with a change in volume(e. g. the decomposition of ammonia: 2 NH 3 ⇔ N 2 + 3 H 2 )an increase in pressure must lead to a reduction in turnover.Accordingly the turnover of a reaction involving a reduction involume is increased through an increase in pressure: in the caseof ammonia synthesis N 2 + 3 H 2 ⇔ 2NH 3 , the equilibrium isshifted under the high pressure towards NH 3 . Taking this resultinto account, the Haber-Bosch procedure of ammonia synthesisis carried out under high pressure.The principle also says that under additional heat influx, inexothermic reactions the equilibrium shifts towards the originalsubstances and in endothermic reactions towards the producedsubstances. The Le Chatelier principle applies not only toreversible chemical reactions but equally to reversible physicalprocesses, such as evaporation or crystallisation.e) The Principle of Least Motion: Hine recognised a law of naturewhich helps us to predict chemical reactions. The principlemaintains that the reactions which involve the least changes toatom compositions and electron configurations are the morelikely to happen. Thus, using this principle, it is possible to predictwhy, in the Birch reduction of aromatic connections 1,4dienes and not 1,3 dienes are produced. Dienes or diolefines areunsaturated aliphatic and cycloaliphatic hydrocarbons whichcontain molecules with double bonds.Note: In the first two examples (a and b) it was possible toexpress the verbal statements in mathematical equations.a) The rotary direction of a whirlpool can be derived frommechanics (Coriolis force).b) In 1873 the English physicist James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879) found a mathematical description (“A Treatise on Electricityand Magnetism”) which the German physicist HeinrichHertz (1857 – 1894) in 1890 expressed in the first and secondMaxwell equations which are still used today.c) As a result of the observations in conjunction with the Pauliprinciple, later a mathematical deduction of the principle usingthe wave function of an electron became possible. These reasonsare based on the validity of the wave function. Howeverthe law itself is still usually formulated verbally.130