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Spontaneity and the Equilibrium Constant: Advantages of the Planck Function

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Robert M. Rosenberg and Irving M. Klotz

Northwestern University, Department of Chemistry, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208-3113

J. Chem. Educ., 1999, 76 (10), p 1448

DOI: 10.1021/ed076p1448

Publication Date (Web): October 1, 1999

Abstract

Many individuals have been perplexed by the seeming incompatibility in the different temperature dependencies of the equilibrium constant K for a chemical reaction and the degree of spontaneity of the same reaction as measured by the standard Gibbs function difference DG°. A related apparent inconsistency is that the temperature of a maximum or minimum in K does not correspond to the temperature of an extremum in DG° for the same reaction. These paradoxes vanish if we use the Planck function instead of the Gibbs function as our criterion of spontaneity. Furthermore, the Planck function provides a more direct connection to the combined first and second laws of thermodynamics.

Keywords (Audience):

Upper-Division Undergraduate

Keywords (Domain):

Physical Chemistry

Keywords (Subject):

Equilibrium

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This article has been cited by 3 ACS Journal articles (3 most recent appear below).

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The Diagrammatic Method, the Planck and the Massieu Functions
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Journal of Chemical Education2001 78 (5), 680
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  A graphical formalism based on an entropy representation of the thermodynamic diagram can be used to derive the many relations to which the Massieu functions give rise, including the Planck Y function. The simplicity of this graphical formalism for simple,...
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Reaction Feasibility and the Planck Function
William B. Jensen
Journal of Chemical Education2000 77 (11), 1411
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  Use of a slightly modified Planck function.
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