Question

How is the equilibrium constant related to Gibbs free energy?

Answer 1

The equilibrium constant is going to be represented with ${{K}_{eq}}$ and the Gibbs free energy is going to represent with$\Delta G$ . Gibbs free energy determines whether the given chemical reaction is spontaneous or not.

Complete answer: - In the question it is asked how the equilibrium constant and Gibbs free energy are related to each other.
- The equilibrium constant is the ratio of the concentration of the products to the concentration of the reactants.
- Gibbs free energy is going to decide the occurrence of the chemical reaction.
- If Gibbs free energy value is positive for chemical reaction means the chemical reaction is nonspontaneous means does not occur.
- If the Gibbs free energy of chemical reaction is negative then the chemical reaction is spontaneous means the products will get formed after the chemical reaction.
- The relation between Gibbs free energy and equilibrium constant is as follows.
$\Delta G=-RT\ln {{K}_{eq}}$
$\Delta G$ = Gibbs free energy
R = universal gas constant = 8.314 j/mol.K
T = Temperature of the chemical reaction in kelvins
${{K}_{eq}}$ = equilibrium constant.
- We are not supposed to change the temperature of the chemical reaction during the chemical reaction because the Gibbs free energy is directly dependent on the reaction temperature.

Note: Means the value of the Gibbs free energy of a chemical is too small then the chemical reaction is going to occur spontaneously. Equilibrium constant is inversely proportional to the Gibbs free energy.