You have learned that reactions like to release heat, thus having negative
H, and more entropy, thus having positive
S. In the 19th century, an American named Josiah Gibbs combined enthalpy and entropy values to determine the spontaneity of a reaction. The equation used to determine the free energy in a chemical reaction is as follows:
| Table of Contents: Unit 5 | Previous Section: Unit 5 - Section 5 | Next Section: Unit 5 - Section 7 | Home Page |