Master Thermodynamic potentials with interactive visualizations. Understand Helmholtz free energy, Gibbs free energy, enthalpy, and internal energy through hands-on simulations and real-world examples.
Thermodynamic potentials are state functions that represent the energy content of a system under specific constraints. They are crucial for determining the equilibrium states of systems and predicting the direction of spontaneous processes. Each potential is minimized under certain conditions, making them powerful tools for analyzing thermodynamic systems.
These potentials provide different perspectives on the energy landscape of a system, depending on which variables (pressure, volume, temperature, entropy) are held constant. Understanding these relationships is essential for predicting system behavior in various physical and chemical processes.
Observe how different thermodynamic potentials change with system parameters. The visualization shows energy landscapes and their minimization under different constraints.
Select a potential to view detailed information about its definition, mathematical formulation, and physical significance.
Internal energy is the total energy contained within a thermodynamic system, including kinetic energy of molecules and potential energy from molecular interactions. It is a fundamental state function that depends only on the current state of the system.
dU = TdS - PdV
Key Characteristics:
Applications: Foundation for all other thermodynamic potentials, energy balance calculations in closed systems.
Enthalpy is a thermodynamic potential that represents the total heat content of a system. It is particularly useful for processes occurring at constant pressure, such as many chemical reactions in open containers.
H = U + PV
dH = TdS + VdP
Key Characteristics:
Applications: Chemical reactions, phase transitions, calorimetry, HVAC systems.
Helmholtz free energy is a thermodynamic potential that measures the useful work obtainable from a closed system at constant temperature and volume. It represents the maximum amount of work that can be extracted from a system.
F = U - TS
dF = -SdT - PdV
Key Characteristics:
Applications: Statistical mechanics, phase transitions, chemical reactions at constant volume.
Gibbs free energy is the most commonly used thermodynamic potential, representing the maximum reversible work that can be performed by a system at constant temperature and pressure. It determines the spontaneity of chemical reactions and phase transitions.
G = H - TS = U + PV - TS
dG = -SdT + VdP
Key Characteristics:
Applications: Chemical reactions, biochemical processes, phase equilibria, electrochemistry.
Understanding how thermodynamic potentials relate to each other through Legendre transformations.
Legendre transformations allow us to change the natural variables of a thermodynamic potential, making different constraints more convenient to work with mathematically.
Gibbs free energy determines whether chemical reactions will proceed spontaneously. Negative ΔG indicates a spontaneous reaction under standard conditions.
Thermodynamic potentials help predict phase transitions. At phase boundaries, the relevant potentials of coexisting phases are equal.
Gibbs free energy determines the maximum electrical work a battery can perform. Battery design optimizes this energy conversion.
Save your potential simulation data or load previous experiments for further analysis.