Variation of chemical potential with T and P

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the variation of chemical potential with temperature and pressure, particularly in the context of Gibbs free energy. Participants explore the implications of changes in temperature and pressure on chemical potential, as well as the relationship between chemical potential and chemical affinity.

Discussion Character

  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant questions whether the changes in chemical potential due to variations in temperature and pressure are accounted for in the expression for Gibbs free energy.
  • Another participant affirms that the equation for Gibbs free energy does take these variations into account and elaborates on the relationship between Gibbs free energy and its dependence on temperature, pressure, and particle number.
  • A third participant notes that chemical potential is indeed a function of temperature and pressure, providing mathematical relationships involving partial derivatives.
  • A participant raises a question about the difference between chemical potential and chemical affinity, suggesting they seem intuitively similar but differ in sign for reactions that are progressing.
  • Another participant provides a formula for chemical affinity, indicating it is a weighted sum of chemical potentials based on stoichiometric coefficients.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree that the changes in chemical potential due to temperature and pressure are included in the Gibbs free energy expression. However, there is ongoing discussion regarding the conceptual differences between chemical potential and chemical affinity, indicating some uncertainty and differing interpretations.

Contextual Notes

Some participants express confusion about the implications of chemical potential and its relationship to chemical reactions, highlighting the complexity of the topic and the need for further clarification.

Who May Find This Useful

This discussion may be useful for students and professionals interested in thermodynamics, physical chemistry, and the principles governing chemical reactions and equilibria.

Urmi Roy
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So the expression for Gibb's free energy is:

dG = -SdT + VdP + μdN,

Here, we see that the Gibb's free energy changes with temperature (dT), change in pressure (dP) and change in chemical potential (as a result of change in particle number).

My question is: we know chemical potential varies with both change in temperature and pressure. So if we don't add/remove particles from the system, the chemical potential does change with variation of P and T...so is that already included in the above equation?

(That is, in the above equation, are we accounting for the change in Gibb's free energy as a result of change in chemical potential as a result of variation of T and P, in addition to the change in chemical potential due to change in particle number).

Further, when the number of particles changes, there might be a number of chemical reactions that take place, so the temperature T might change because of that also, which would change the sdT term at the beginning, right?

I guess I'm just having problems understanding chemical potential :-/
 
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Urmi Roy said:
So the expression for Gibb's free energy is:

dG = -SdT + VdP + μdN,

Here, we see that the Gibb's free energy changes with temperature (dT), change in pressure (dP) and change in chemical potential (as a result of change in particle number).

My question is: we know chemical potential varies with both change in temperature and pressure. So if we don't add/remove particles from the system, the chemical potential does change with variation of P and T...so is that already included in the above equation?

(That is, in the above equation, are we accounting for the change in Gibb's free energy as a result of change in chemical potential as a result of variation of T and P, in addition to the change in chemical potential due to change in particle number).



Further, when the number of particles changes, there might be a number of chemical reactions that take place, so the temperature T might change because of that also, which would change the sdT term at the beginning, right?

I guess I'm just having problems understanding chemical potential :-/

The answer to all your questions is "yes", the equation for dG takes all these things into account. The Gibbs Free Energy G can be expressed as a function of T, P, and N1, ..., Nm, where m is the number of species in the solution:

G=G(T,P,N_1,...,N_m)

An infinitecimal change in G can be represented using the chain rule for partial differentiation:

dG=\frac{\partial G}{\partial T}dT+\frac{\partial G}{\partial P}dP+\frac{\partial G}{\partial N_1}dN_1+...+\frac{\partial G}{\partial N_m}dN_m
Each of the partial derivatives in this equation is a function of T, P, and the N's, with
\frac{\partial G}{\partial T}=-S
\frac{\partial G}{\partial P}=V
and
\frac{\partial G}{\partial N_i}=μ_i

I hope this helps.
 
Of course mu is a function of T and P, also.
Given that ##\mu=\partial G/\partial N## we have ##(\partial\mu /\partial T)_P=\partial^2 G/\partial N \partial T=\partial^2 G /\partial T \partial N =-(\partial S/\partial N)_P = S_m## i.e. the partial molar entropy and analogously
##(\partial \mu/\partial P)_T=V_m ## the partial molar volume.
So for fixed N, ##d\mu=-S_mdT+V_m dP##
 
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Can I just go on to ask what the difference between chemical potential and chemical affinity is? They seem to , intuitively, mean the same thing but chemical potential is +ve for a reaction that's progressing and affinity is negative!

Also, is A (affinity) always the same sign as the rate of reaction?
 
##A=-\Delta G_r=-\sum \nu_i \mu_i##
were ##\nu_i## are the stochiometric coefficients of the reaction taking place.
So basically A is a weighed sum of chemical potentials.
 
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