On the Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Substances
{{short description|Paper by Josiah Willard Gibbs}}
{{Thermodynamics}}
In the history of thermodynamics, "On the Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Substances" is a 300-page paper written by American chemical physicist Willard Gibbs. It is one of the founding papers in thermodynamics, along with German physicist Hermann von Helmholtz's 1882 paper "Thermodynamik chemischer Vorgänge." Together they form the foundation of chemical thermodynamics as well as a large part of physical chemistry.
{{cite book
|last1=Ott |first1=Bevan J.
|last2=Boerio-Goates |first2=Juliana
|year=2000
|title=Chemical Thermodynamics – Principles and Applications
|publisher=Academic Press
|isbn=0-12-530990-2
{{cite book
|last=Servos |first=John W.
|year=1990
|title=Physical Chemistry from Ostwald to Pauling
|url=https://archive.org/details/physicalchemistr0000serv |url-access=registration |publisher=Princeton University Press
|isbn=0-691-08566-8
}}
Gibbs's paper marked the beginning of chemical thermodynamics by integrating chemical, physical, electrical, and electromagnetic phenomena into a coherent system. It introduced concepts such as chemical potential, phase rule, and more, which form the basis for modern physical chemistry. American writer Bill Bryson describes Gibbs's paper as "the Principia of thermodynamics".
{{cite book
|last=Bryson
|first=Bill
|year=2003
|title=A Short History of Nearly Everything
|pages=[https://archive.org/details/shorthistoryofne00brys/page/116 116]–117, 121
|publisher=Broadway Books
|isbn=0-7679-0818-X
|url-access=registration
|url=https://archive.org/details/shorthistoryofne00brys
}}
"On the Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Substances", was originally published in a relatively obscure American journal, the Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, in several parts, during the years 1875 to 1878 (although most cite "1876" as the key year).
{{cite journal
|last=Gibbs |first=J. Willard
|title=On the Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Substances
|date=October 1875 – May 1876
|journal=Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences
|volume=3 |pages=108–248
|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/88413#page/128/mode/2up
{{cite journal
|last=Gibbs |first=J. Willard
|title=On the Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Substances
|date=May 1877 – July 1878
|journal=Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences
|volume=3 |pages=343–524
|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/32295#page/363/mode/1up
}} It remained largely unknown until translated into German by Wilhelm Ostwald and into French by Henry Louis Le Châtelier.
Overview
Gibbs first contributed to mathematical physics with two papers published in 1873 in the Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences on "Graphical Methods in the Thermodynamics of Fluids," and "Method of Geometrical Representation of the Thermodynamic Properties of Substances by means of Surfaces." His subsequent and most important publication was "On the Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Substances" (in two parts, 1876 and 1878). In this monumental, densely woven, 300-page treatise, the first law of thermodynamics, the second law of thermodynamics, the fundamental thermodynamic relation, are applied to the predication and quantification of thermodynamic reaction tendencies in any thermodynamic system in a visual, three-dimensional graphical language of Lagrangian mechanics and phase transitions, among others.
{{cite book
|last=Gibbs |first=J. Willard
|year=1993
|title=The Scientific Papers of J. Willard Gibbs - Volume One
|publisher=Ox Bow Press
|isbn=0-918024-77-3
{{cite book
|last=Gibbs |first=J. Willard
|year=1994
|title=The Scientific Papers of J. Willard Gibbs - Volume Two
|publisher=Ox Bow Press
|isbn=1-881987-06-X
}} As stated by Le Chatelier, it "founded a new department of chemical science that is becoming comparable in importance to that created by [Antoine] Lavoisier." This work was translated into German by Ostwald (who styled its author the "founder of chemical energetics") in 1891 and into French by Le Châtelier in 1899.{{cite EB1911|wstitle= Gibbs, Josiah Willard | volume= 11 | page = 937 }}
Gibbs's Equilibrium paper is considered one of the greatest achievements in physical science in the 19th century and one of the foundations of the science of physical chemistry. In these papers Gibbs applied thermodynamics to the interpretation of physicochemical phenomena and showed the explanation and interrelationship of what had been known only as isolated, inexplicable facts.
Gibbs' papers on heterogeneous equilibria included:
- Some chemical potential concepts
- Some free energy concepts
- A Gibbsian ensemble ideal (basis of the statistical mechanics field)
- the phase rule
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{EB1911 Poster|Gibbs, Josiah Willard}}
{{Wikisource|Scientific Papers of Josiah Willard Gibbs, Volume 1/Chapter IIIa|On the Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Substances}}
- At the Internet Archive, [https://archive.org/details/Onequilibriumhe00Gibb Part 1] and [https://archive.org/details/Onequilibriumhe00GibbA Part 2] in various file formats.
Category:Thermodynamics literature
Category:Works originally published in American magazines
Category:1876 non-fiction books
Category:Works originally published in science and technology magazines