The way Le Chatelier's principle is presented in most introductory chemistry books (high-school) is as though it's an indisputable law of the physical world (in the sense that we're never shown an exception, not that its universality is explicitly stated).
This is supposed to differ from the more frequently encountered half-assed "laws" like Ohm's Law or Hooke's Law (which are really just generalizations drawn from a few, everyday cases... not real "laws" as such).
Now I'm curious. Is there really no exception to Le Chatelier's principle (for a closed, isolated system)?
Wording this differently: Is there any situation (closed, isolated system) where conditions conducive to Le Chatelier's principle are in place, yet the expected Le Chatelier's "response" (the tendency to oppose change) is not observed upon effecting the said change (in parameters such as concentration, temperature, volume, etc.)?
If there are any exceptions that one comes across in everyday life, I'd prefer to hear those (but since that's extremely unlikely, I suppose just about any exception will do).
Are there any theoretical grounds for exceptions to Le Chatelier's principle?
If Le Chatelier's principle cannot be violated, then why is it so?
What sparked this question, is the following statement from a (school-issued) book of mine:
The dissolution of NaOH in water is exothermic. According to Le Chatelier's principle decreasing the temperature of the solution should favor solubility, however, in reality solubility of NaOH increases with temperature. This is therefore an exception.
However, if it weren't for the sharp users of Chemistry.SE I would've accepted my book's claims (since it corroborates seemingly well with common experience). O:)
I did find this article on the ACS page, but it's paywalled >_<