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Example Questions
Example Question #1 : Physical Chemistry
For Constant Temperature, Gibbs Free Energy is defined as:
Where , is the change in Gibbs Free Energy,
is the change in enthalpy,
is temperature, and
is the change in entropy.
Which of the following scenarios is not possible?
The following condition is not possible:
This is because if enthalpy is positive, and entropy is negative, the negative sign in front of the temperature term in the formula becomes positive. Addition of 2 positive numbers can not be negative. Plugging in arbitrary numbers into the other conditions can show they are all possible.
Take the following condition:
Then Gibbs free energy can either be positive or negative, depending on the magnitude of enthalpy, entropy, and temperature. (If enthalpy is much larger than entropy and temperature, then the difference will be positive, but if entropy *
is greater than the enthalpy, then the difference will be negative).
Example Question #1 : Physical Chemistry
For constant temperature, Gibbs free energy is defined as:
Where , is the change in Gibbs free energy,
is the change in enthalpy,
is temperature, and
is the change in entropy.
Given that a system is spontaneous, which of the following states are possible?
I.
II.
III.
IV.
I, II, and III
IV only
II and III
I, II, III, and IV
I and III
I and III
Condition I is always true. Condition II is never true, as Gibbs free energy cannot be negative if enthalpy is positive and entropy is negative. Condition III may be true if temperature is very high (this is the scenario when the term dominates the
term. Condition IV is not possible because
and we were given a system with a Gibbs free Energy that is
(we were told the system was spontaneous).
Example Question #1 : Thermodynamics
The enthalpy of a reaction is and the entropy of a reaction is
. Which of the following is the Gibbs free energy (in
) of this reaction?
Cannot be determined from the given information
Cannot be determined from the given information
Gibbs free energy of a system can be solved using the following equation.
where is change in Gibbs free energy,
is change in enthalpy,
is temperature in Kelvins and
is change in entropy. To solve for
we need all three of the variables. We are not given the temperature; therefore, we cannot solve for Gibbs free energy.
Example Question #1 : Thermochemistry And Thermodynamics
In an exergonic reaction, products will have __________ Gibbs free energy and the reaction is __________.
lower . . . spontaneous
higher . . . nonspontaneous
higher . . . spontaneous
lower . . . nonspontaneous
lower . . . spontaneous
Exergonic reaction suggests that the Gibbs free energy is negative. Since the change in Gibbs free energy is defined as Gibbs free energy of products - Gibbs free energy of reactants, a negative change in Gibbs free energy suggests that the products have a lower Gibbs free energy than reactants. A reaction is spontaneous if it has negative Gibbs free energy; therefore, exergonic reactions are always spontaneous. This is because the reaction is producing a more stable product (lower energy) from a less stable reactant (higher energy).
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