The law of mass action was enunciated by

Options

A. Guldberg and Waage
B. Badenstein
C. Birthelot
D. Graham

Answer

To answer the question "The law of mass action was enunciated by," we can follow these steps:

### Step 1: Identify the Contributors
The law of mass action was formulated by several chemists. The key figures mentioned in the video are Gulberg and Waage, along with others like Berthlett and Gram.

### Step 2: Define the Law of Mass Action
The law of mass action states that the rate of a chemical reaction is proportional to the product of the concentrations of the reactants, each raised to the power of their respective coefficients in the balanced equation.

### Step 3: Write the General Reaction
Consider a general reaction:
\[ aA + bB \rightleftharpoons cC + dD \]

### Step 4: Express the Rates
According to the law of mass action:
- The rate of the forward reaction (\( r_{forward} \)) is given by:
\[ r_{forward} \propto [A]^a [B]^b \]
- The rate of the backward reaction (\( r_{backward} \)) is given by:
\[ r_{backward} \propto [C]^c [D]^d \]

### Step 5: Establish the Equilibrium Condition
At equilibrium, the rate of the forward reaction equals the rate of the backward reaction:
\[ r_{forward} = r_{backward} \]

### Step 6: Derive the Equilibrium Expression
From the rates, we can derive the equilibrium constant (\( K \)):
\[ K = \frac{[C]^c [D]^d}{[A]^a [B]^b} \]

### Conclusion
The law of mass action, which relates the concentrations of reactants and products at equilibrium, was enunciated by Gulberg and Waage.

### Final Answer
The law of mass action was enunciated by Gulberg and Waage.

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