W max = Gibbs Free Energy

[samanthaywu]

I understand that Wmax = G, but I'm a little confused on how those two became related. It makes sense somewhat but I don't completely see the connection. Is someone able to explain in more detail why this is true?

[Shanna Yu 1C]

Hi!

I think deltaG is the most work a system can do at some temperature and pressure. wmax is the maximum amount of work that a system can do under constant temperature and pressure. When we're operating under constant temperature and pressure, we can thus reasonably assume that deltaG=wmax.

[Thomas Vu 1A]

I thought it was deltaG naught that was the most work a system can do

[Mansi Solanki 3A]

From what I understood, the way that we connected this was through the equation where deltaG naught = Wmax = -nFEcell naught.

[Samir 3I]

DeltaG naught is the max amount of work a system does at a given temperature and pressure, while Wmaxis the maximum amount of work a system is capable of doing. Therefore, you can set them equal to each other.