Gibbs Free energy in a nutshell?

$\Delta G^{\circ}= \Delta H^{\circ} - T \Delta S^{\circ}$

$\Delta G^{\circ}= -RT\ln K$

$\Delta G^{\circ}= \sum \Delta G_{f}^{\circ}(products) - \sum \Delta G_{f}^{\circ}(reactants)$

JasmineChavez 1E
Posts: 29
Joined: Fri Sep 25, 2015 3:00 am

Gibbs Free energy in a nutshell?

I thought Gibbs was pretty simple but then when we go do problems things get a little confusing; if Gibbs represents the energy to do work for a spontaneous process, what is any energy that is not Gibbs and what is it doing?

Trixie Le 3K
Posts: 14
Joined: Thu Oct 08, 2015 3:00 am

Re: Gibbs Free energy in a nutshell?

Gibbs free energy is something that combines the component of entropy and enthalpy to tell whether a reaction is likely to naturally happen in nature, or whether it needs an outside source of energy to happen. The change in Gibbs free energy is defined as the deltaH - T(delta)S which combines both the idea of enthalpy and entropy together. It is the parameter of a system that will measure whether a reaction is favorable or not. Other equations of Gibbs free energy can actually be derived from the original formula of using enthalpy and entropy. However, for different types of reactions and conditions we have to derive that original equations into other equations, but it is still some sort of form or derivation of deltaH - T(delta)S.