The Reversible Reaction of Misunderstanding

It was believed that all chemical reactions were irreversible; that both sides of the equation would never reach equilibrium. Until 1803, a French chemist, Claude Louis Berthollet introduced the concept of reversible reactions. A concept of second chances: that it is possible to reach a steady state even how complex a reaction might be.

Communication can be represented in chemical equations. Sometimes, it is unidirectional (irreversible): if a person said something, the other one would simply accept it.

Person 1 + Message --> (Mis) understanding of Person 2

A reaction is said to be reversible (bidirectional), if it can go both forwards and backwards.
Person 1 + Message ⇌ (Mis) understanding of Person 2

Misunderstanding is dynamic. It is moving, changing, and it will never stop unless either one of both sides discontinue.

Sometimes, we only want to say what we have to say regardless of the consequences. But little did we know that, expression and reception occur at the same time. We’re in a closed system. Neither sides of the reaction can escape from the situation, whether the tension is acknowledged or not.

And when equilibrium has been reached, it does not mean that the reactions have stopped. It only means that the forward reaction continues to make the products, while the products continue to make the reactants.

Everything is occurring simultaneously. And most of the time, we can never really isolate the emotion from the situation. Misunderstanding creates collisions of the reacting entities in closed system: bonds will definitely be broken. And if an equilibrium point is reached, both the concentrations of the reactants and the products will no longer change.