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4.1 Equilibrium & Spontaneity

  • Page ID
    32239
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    A final quick reminder to complete our unit on equilibrium.

    Recall that in Unit I: Thermodynamics, we were interested in whether or not a reaction would occur (be spontaneous).

    We learned of two critical factors - enthalpy (Δ H, energy change) and entropy (ΔS, change in randomness) that determine whether or not a reaction will occur.

    These two factors are related as Gibbs Free Energy (Δ G) in a mathematical relationship:

    \(\ce{\Delta G = \Delta H - T \Delta S}\)

    You learned that when

    \(\ce{\Delta G < 0}\), the reaction is spontaneous
    \(\ce{\Delta G > 0}\), the reaction is nonspontaneous
    \(\ce{\Delta G\: = \: 0}\), the reaction is at equilibrium

    This unit focused on when \(\ce{\Delta G = 0}\).


    4.1 Equilibrium & Spontaneity is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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