Free Energy and Entropy

Front

What is free energy?

Back

The overall energy change for a process, called 'free energy' because it is free to do things, such as work.

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What is a thermodynamically favorable process?

Back

A process that produces free energy; also called a spontaneous process.

Front

What is a thermodynamically unfavorable process?

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A process that does not produce free energy; also called a non-spontaneous process.

Front

What is entropy?

Back

Entropy (S) is a measure of the disorder of a system, describing the behavior of matter and energy within a physical system.

Front

What does the second law of thermodynamics state?

Back

The entropy of an isolated system never decreases. An isolated system always spontaneously evolves toward the state with the maximum entropy.

Front

How do chemists calculate the change in free energy (deltaG)?

Back

Free energy = Change in enthalpy - temperature x change in entropy.

Front

What is crossover temperature?

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The unique temperature at which free energy is zero for every process that has one favorable and one unfavorable factor, those factors being entropy and enthalpy.