Part of a larger work by Stephen Lower at Simon Fraser University, this chemical thermodynamics virtual textbook seeks to provide students with an introduction to classical thermodynamics. Lower believes that despite the volume of information that he is presenting here that first-year college students should be able to grasp the material and that it would be highly valuable to advanced physical chemistry students as well.
Table of Contents for Thermodynamics of Chemical Equilibrium
- 1 – Energy spreading drives spontaneous change
- What is a spontaneous process?
- Direction through disorder
- Microstates are quantized
- Energy-spreading changes the world
- How chemical reactions spread energy around
- Summary of key concepts
- Concept map
- 2 – Entropy rules! …but what is entropy?
- Reversible and irreversible changes
- The physical meaning of entropy
- Absolute entropies
- Standard entropies of substances
- Entropy depends on concentration
- Summary of key concepts
- Concept map
- 3 – The Second Law and the availability of energy
- Why isn’t the First Law enough?
- Entropy and spontaneous change
- What is a heat engine?
- The Second Law of Thermodynamics
- Summary of key concepts
- Concept map
- 4 – Free energy and the Gibbs function
- 1 The Gibbs energy
- 2 Free energy and chemical change
- 3 The standard Gibbs free energy
- 4 ΔG and ΔG°: what’s the difference?
- 5 How to interpret ΔG° values
- 6 Some remarks about “free energy”
- Summary of key concepts
- Concept map
- 4B – Thermodynamics of mixing and dilution
- 1 Review: Entropy and concentration
- 2 Gibbs energy of a gas
- 3A Chemical reactions and mixing
- 3B Dilution and diffusion
- 3C Solute standard states and activity
- 5- Free energy and equilibrium
- Down the free energy hill
- The equilibrium constant
- How temperature affects equilibrium
- Heterogeneous reactions
- Coupled reactions
- Summary of key concepts
- Concept map
- 6- Some applications of entropy and free energy
- Colligative properties of solutions
- Extraction of metals from their oxides
- Bioenergetics
- Acid-base reactions
- Electron-transfer reactions
- Thermodynamics of rubber bands
- Summary of key concepts
- Concept map
View this Free Online Material at the source:
Thermodynamics of Chemical Equilibrium