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Chemical thermodynamics

Developmental version - Version date: 30-Aug-2004                                                   Show topics and summary

Contents

1. Introduction: Thermodynamic concepts .
2. Conservation of energy: The first law of thermodynamics .
3. Enthalpy and thermochemistry .
4. Spontaneous processes .
5. Entropy .
6. The second law of thermodynamics .
7. Free energy and equilibria .
8. Thermodynamics and biochemistry .

Course links: [ CHEM 320] [ CHEM 440 ]
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Summary of chemical thermodynamics

Thermodynamics is one of the most important things we can learn about in chemistry! Thermodynamics seeks to understand in a quantitative way the energetic changes that accompany the physical or chemical processes we observe. Fundamentally, the thermodynamicist seeks to measure energy. The energy associated with a sample of matter is related to measurable quantities of that sample such as its its mass, temperature, and volume. In order to calculate the energy of a sample of matter, all forms of energy, kinetic and potential, must be accounted for. A set of Laws of Thermodynamics codify the quantitative relationships that govern this energetic bookkeeping. The types of processes that occur spontaneously are predicted with the crucial aid of the thermodynamic concept of entropy. Chemical reactions are appropriate examples of spontaneous processes for thermodynamic analysis. The culminating development of chemical thermodynamics here is the relationship between what is known as "free energy" - a combination of energy, entropy and temperature - and the measured equilibrium constant for a chemical reaction.

Concepts to review (Chem 101): Kinetic and potential energy. Energy, heat, heat capacity, enthalpy, standard enthalpies and Hess' law.