What are the two tendencies which determine the feasibility of process? How are the two related to each other?
The following two tendencies are responsible for determining the feasibility of a process:
(i) The tendency of a system to acquire a state of minimum energy i.e. energy factor. It is expressed in terms of enthalpy change (∆H). A negative value of ∆H suggests that system has the tendency to proceed.
(ii) The tendency of a system to acquire a state of maximum randomness i.e. randomness factor. It is expressed by T∆S where T is the absolute temperature and ∆S is the change in entropy. A positive value of T∆S indicates an inherent tendency of a process to occur.
Relation between two tendencies:
The overall tendency or the driving force of a process is expressed in terms of free energy change (∆G). This is expressed as ∆G = ∆H – T∆S
This equation is called Gibb’s Helmholtz equation. For a spontaneous process, ∆G should have a negative value i.e. the system should undergo a decrease in its free energy.