0.16 Bis2a 04.0 energy and thermodynamics v1.2  (Page 3/21)

Radiant energy is carried by waves. Changes in the internal energy of particles cause the atoms to emit energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation which includes visible light, ultraviolet (UV) radiation, infrared (IR) radiation, microwaves, radio waves, gamma rays, and X-rays. Electromagnetic radiation from the sun, particularly light, is of utmost importance in environmental systems because biogeochemical cycles and virtually all other processes on earth are driven by them.

Thermal energy or Heat energy is related to the motion or vibration of molecules in a substance. When a thermal system changes, heat flows in or out of the system. Heat energy flows from hot bodies to cold ones. Heat flow, like work, is an energy transfer. When heat flows into a substance it may increase the kinetic energy of the particles and thus elevate its temperature. Heat flow may also change the arrangement of the particles making up a substance by increasing their potential energy. This is what happens to water when it reaches a temperature of 100ºC. The molecules of water move further away from each other, thereby changing the state of the water from a liquid to a gas. During the phase transition the temperature of the water does not change.

Nuclear Energy is energy that comes from the binding of the protons and neutrons that make up the nucleus of the atoms. It can be released from atoms in two different ways: nuclear fusion or nuclear fission. In nuclear fusion , energy is released when atoms are combined or fused together. This is how the sun produces energy. In nuclear fission , energy is released when atoms are split apart. Nuclear fission is used in nuclear power plants to produce electricity. Uranium 235 is the fuel used in most nuclear power plants because it undergoes a chain reaction extremely rapidly, resulting in the fission of trillions of atoms within a fraction of a second.

Free energy

After learning that chemical reactions release energy when energy-storing bonds are broken, an important next question is how is the energy associated with chemical reactions quantified and expressed? How can the energy released from one reaction be compared to that of another reaction? A measurement of free energy    is used to quantitate these energy transfers. Free energy is called Gibbs free energy (abbreviated with the letter G) after Josiah Willard Gibbs, the scientist who developed the measurement. Recall that according to the second law of thermodynamics, all energy transfers involve the loss of some amount of energy in an unusable form such as heat, resulting in entropy. Gibbs free energy specifically refers to the energy associated with a chemical reaction that is available after entropy is accounted for. In other words, Gibbs free energy is usable energy, or energy that is available to do work.

Every chemical reaction involves a change in free energy, called delta G (∆G). The change in free energy can be calculated for any system that undergoes such a change, such as a chemical reaction. To calculate ∆G, subtract the amount of energy lost to entropy (denoted as ∆S) from the total energy change of the system. This total energy change in the system is called enthalpy    and is denoted as ∆H . The formula for calculating ∆G is as follows, where the symbol T refers to absolute temperature in Kelvin (degrees Celsius + 273):