Thermodynamics of Chemical Transformations

Transformations of matter take place in many ways, through chemical, nuclear and elementary particle reactions. All these transformations or reactions can be associated with enthalpies of reaction and an equilibrium characterized by the vanishing of the corresponding affinities. This chapter discusses the nature of chemical reactions and equilibrium. It studies the relation between entropy production and the rates chemical reactions that drive the system to equilibrium. Kinetic equations express reaction rates as functions of state variables. The chapter also discusses some basic aspects of chemical kinetics. It also studies the chemical equilibrium and the law of mass action. There is an important aspect of the state of chemical equilibrium, and the state of thermodynamic equilibrium in general, that must be noted, namely the principle of detailed balance.