What information does Gibbs free energy give about a reaction?

Answer 1

It tells if the reaction will process spontaneously or not

Answer 2

The Gibbs free energy is the maximum amount of non-expansion work that can be extracted from a closed system. With respect to STP reacting systems, a general rule of thumb is that every system seeks to achieve a minimum of free energy. Following this rule, if the Gibbs energy for a reaction is negative, the reaction is favored and should be able to provide energy for use. If the Gibbs energy is postive, then it means energy has to be added to the system to make the change occur. Note that the sign conventin for Gibbs energy is that energy added TO the system is postive, while energy coming OUT is negative. Reactions with negative delta G are generally expected to proceed spontaneously (albeit the speed with which they will proceeed is not specified) while reactions with positive delta G will not occur spontaneously - al least from a macroscopic point of view. In reality, reactions typically go back and forth between reactants and products constantly with the direction having a negative delta G being favored. When the delta G for the forward reaction (which depends in part on the concentrations of the reactants) is equal to the detla G of the backward reaction (which depends in part on the concentration of the products backward reaction), the overall delta G is zero and you have equilibrium.

Answer 3

The Gibbs free energy is the maximum amount of non-expansion work that can be extracted from a closed system. With respect to STP reacting systems, a general rule of thumb is that every system seeks to achieve a minimum of free energy. Following this rule, if the Gibbs energy for a reaction is negative, the reaction is favored and should be able to provide energy for use. If the Gibbs energy is postive, then it means energy has to be added to the system to make the change occur. Note that the sign conventin for Gibbs energy is that energy added TO the system is postive, while energy coming OUT is negative. Reactions with negative delta G are generally expected to proceed spontaneously (albeit the speed with which they will proceeed is not specified) while reactions with positive delta G will not occur spontaneously - al least from a macroscopic point of view. In reality, reactions typically go back and forth between reactants and products constantly with the direction having a negative delta G being favored. When the delta G for the forward reaction (which depends in part on the concentrations of the reactants) is equal to the detla G of the backward reaction (which depends in part on the concentration of the products backward reaction), the overall delta G is zero and you have equilibrium.

Answer 4

The Gibbs free energy provides insight into the spontaneity and direction of a chemical reaction. A negative value indicates that a reaction is energetically favorable and spontaneous, while a positive value indicates that a reaction is energetically unfavorable and non-spontaneous.