Question #ba099

1 Answer
Jan 1, 2016

DeltaG = +"175 kJ"

Explanation:

A reaction's change in Gibbs free energy, DeltaG, tells you whether or not that reaction is spontaneous or not at the specific temperature at which it takes place.

A chemical reaction's spontaneity refers to the reaction's ability to proceed without energetic input. In simple words, if a reaction is spontaneous at a given temperature, then it will not require energy to proceed.

If it's not spontaneous at a given temperature, then it will require energy to proceed.

Your bread and butter when it comes to assessing a reaction's spontaneity is this equation

color(blue)(DeltaG = DeltaH - T * DeltaS)" ", where

DeltaG - the change in Gibbs free energy
DeltaH - the enthalpy change of reaction
T - the temperature at which the reaction takes place, expressed 8n Kelvin
DeltaS - the entropy change of reaction

In order for a reaction to be spontaneous, you need DeltaG<0.

In your case, a positive enthalpy change of reaction and a negative entropy change of reaction will always, irrespective of the temperature at which the reaction takes place, result in DeltaG>0, which is what you get when the reaction is not spontaneous.

Plug in your values to get the actual value for DeltaG - do not forget to convert the temperature to Kelvin. Plus, notice that DeltaH is given is kilojoules and DeltaS in joules*, so an additional convertion will be needed here.

DeltaG = "147 kJ" - (273.15 + 149) color(red)(cancel(color(black)("K"))) * (-67.0)"J"/color(red)(cancel(color(black)("K")))

DeltaG = "147 kJ" + overbrace("28,284.05 J")^(color(purple)("convert to kJ"))

DeltaG = "147 kJ" + "28.284 kJ" = color(green)(+"175 kJ")

The answer is rounded to three sig figs.

So, DeltaG>0, which means that the reaction is not spontaneous.