22.5 Free energy

• Feasibility describes whether a reaction can take place
• A reaction is energetically feasible if the products have a lower overall energy than the reactants
• ΔG = ΔH - TΔS
• For a reaction to be feasible, there must be a decrease in free energy

  • ΔG < 0
• ΔS must be divided by 1000 to get into the right units
• ΔG is used to predict thermodynamic feasibility, but doesn't take into account the kinetics of the reaction