Gibbs free energy
In thermodynamics,
the Gibbs free energy or Gibbs energy is a thermodynamic potential that can be used to calculate the maximum amount
of work that may be performed by a thermodynamically closed system at constant temperature and
pressure. It also provides
a necessary condition for processes such as chemical reactions that
may occur under these conditions.
The
concept of Gibbs free energy, originally called available energy, was developed in the 1870s by the American
scientist Josiah Willard
Gibbs. In 1873, Gibbs described this available
energy as below–
The
greatest amount of mechanical work which can be obtained from a given quantity
of a certain substance in a given initial state, without increasing its
total volume or allowing heat to pass to or from external
bodies, except such as at the close of the processes are left in their initial
condition.
The Gibbs energy is thus the thermodynamic potential of a body in a closed system where exchange of heat takes
place without exchange of molecules. This is also applicable on all
thermodynamic reactions of body.
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