CHEM 1A Lecture Notes - Lecture 29: Energy Conversion Efficiency, Gibbs Free Energy, Semipermeable Membrane
Document Summary
The change in gibbs energy, g, is referred to as gibbs free energy because it deines the maximum energy produced in a chemical reacion that could be converted to work. Note that in reacions with a negaive entropy change, g is less negaive than h. This is because some heat must be released to the surroundings in order to compensate for the negaive s of the reacion, and thus cannot be converted to work. Note also that g is more negaive than h for reacions with a posiive entropy change: entropy (t s) can be converted into work. While it is possible to convert mechanical work into heat with 100% eiciency, the reverse is not possible. Due to the random moion of molecules in a body at a certain temperature, thermal energy is a low grade type of energy and cannot be eiciently converted into work.
