How can you tell if a reaction is feasible and what factors contribute towards this?

A reaction is said to be feasible or spontaneous when the Gibbs Free Energy (Delta G) of the reaction is <0. Conversely, when the Gibbs Free Energy (Delta G) of the reaction is >0, a reaction is said to be unfeasible or non-spontaneous. The value of Delta G is highly dependant on the entropy change (Delta S), the enthalpy change (Delta H) and the temperature (T) at which the reaction is occuring. These are related to eachother in the following equation:Delta G = Delta H - T Delta SThis equation shows that the enthalpy isn't temperature dependant, but that the entropy is. The reaction is always said to be feasible when Delta H is negative and Delta S is positive. This means that the reaction is exothermic (-ve Delta H) and results in an increase in the moles of products compared to reactants. The exact opposite is true when Delta H is positive and Delta S is negative. Reactions are said to be unfeasible in this case where the reaction is endothermic (+ve Delta H) and results in a decrease in moles of products compared to the reactants. In both of these cases, the temperature of the reactions has no bearing on the feasibility of the reaction.However, in the intermediate sitaution where either enthalpy or entropy promotes feasibility of the reaction and the other doesn't, temperature plays a significant role in whether the reaction will take place or not. An example of this is when both Delta H and Delta S are negative. In this case, Delta H favours a spontaneous reaction and Delta S hinders this. This means that an increase in T will increase the magnitude of Delta S with respect to Delta H resulting in the reaction becoming less favourable. The opposite is true for a decrease in T and for the opposite sitaution where both Delta H and Delta S are positive.

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Answered by Jamie R. Chemistry tutor

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