How does removing reactants from an equilibrium system affect the position of equilibrium?

When reactants are removed from an equilibrium system, the concentration of those reactants decreases. According to Le Chatelier’s principle, a system at equilibrium will adjust to counteract any changes applied to it. In this scenario, the removal of reactants means that the system will shift in the direction that tends to increase the concentration of the reactants in order to restore equilibrium.

This shift occurs because the equilibrium position needs to compensate for the loss of reactants by favoring the reactants’ formation. Therefore, the equilibrium shifts towards the left, resulting in a decrease in the concentration of products as the system attempts to replace the lost reactants. By moving in this direction, more reactants are formed from the products, until the system reaches a new state of equilibrium.