Q.What does violet colour of the solution in above indicate ?
Step 1. In the cobalt chloride activity, the reversible reaction is , where the hydrated cobalt(II) complex is pink and the chloro-cobalt complex is blue.
Step 2. When concentrated HCl is added to the pink solution, the added Cl ions push the equilibrium toward the blue complex, but the conversion is not instantaneous or complete -- at an intermediate stage, both the pink and blue complexes are present together.
Step 3. A solution containing both a pink and a blue species at once appears violet -- direct visual evidence that the reaction has not gone entirely to one side, i.e. that both forward and backward species genuinely coexist, as expected in a true equilibrium.
Step 4. The same test tube later turning fully pink on cooling (in ice water) and fully blue on heating (in hot water) confirms the two coloured forms interconvert reversibly with temperature.
The violet colour shows that both the pink hydrated cobalt complex and the blue chloro-cobalt complex are present together in solution at that stage -- direct evidence of the reversible equilibrium between the two forms.
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