Chemical Potential
In thermodynamics, chemical potential, also known as partial molar free energy, is a form of potential energy that can be absorbed or released during a chemical reaction. It may also change during a phase transition. The chemical potential of a species in the mixture can be defined as the slope of the free energy of the system with respect to a change in the number of moles of just that species. Thus, it is the partial derivative of the free energy with respect to the amount of the species, all other species' concentrations in the mixture remaining constant, and at constant temperature. When pressure is constant, chemical potential is the partial molar Gibbs free energy. At chemical equilibrium or in phase equilibrium the total sum of chemical potentials is zero, as the free energy is at a minimum.
Read more about Chemical Potential.
Some articles on chemical potential:
... diffusion equation relating the flux of two species ( JA and JB ) to the gradient of the chemical potential difference As pointed out by Cahn, this equation can be considered as ... of the ratio of the flux to the local gradient in chemical potential ... This leads to a change in its chemical potential, and for fluids Substitution yields By taking the divergence, we obtain the new diffusion equation Alternatively, since the flux equation can be written as For a system ...
... recent years, thermal physics has applied the definition of chemical potential to systems in particle physics and its associated processes ... plasma or other QCD matter, at every point in space there is a chemical potential for photons, a chemical potential for electrons, a chemical potential for baryon number, electric charge, and so forth ... Therefore the chemical potential of photons is always and everywhere zero ...
... Chemical potential is the partial molar free energy ... The potential, μi, of the ith species in a chemical reaction is the partial derivative of the free energy with respect to the number of moles of that species, Ni A general chemical equilibrium can be written ... for these reactions is a function of the chemical potentials of all the species The chemical potential, μi, of the ith species can be calculated in terms of ...
... equation and from the definition of activity, the insertion parameter may be related to the chemical potential by ...
... the Gibbs–Duhem equation describes the relationship between changes in chemical potential for components in a thermodynamical system where is the number of moles of component, the ... are variable, only of components have independent values for chemical potential and Gibbs' phase rule follows ...
Famous quotes containing the words potential and/or chemical:
“While each child is born with his or her own distinct genetic potential for physical, social, emotional and cognitive development, the possibilities for reaching that potential remain tied to early life experiences and the parent-child relationship within the family.”
—Bernice Weissbourd (20th century)
“We do not want actions, but men; not a chemical drop of water, but rain; the spirit that sheds and showers actions, countless, endless actions.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)