Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Free Energy01:21

Free Energy

47.7K
Free energy—abbreviated as G for the scientist Gibbs who discovered it—is a measurement of useful energy that can be extracted from a reaction to do work. It is the energy in a chemical reaction that is available after entropy is accounted for. Reactions that take in energy are considered endergonic and reactions that release energy are exergonic. Plants carry out endergonic reactions by taking in sunlight and carbon dioxide to produce glucose and oxygen. Animals, in turn, break...
47.7K
Gibbs Free Energy and Thermodynamic Favorability02:23

Gibbs Free Energy and Thermodynamic Favorability

6.7K
The spontaneity of a process depends upon the temperature of the system. Phase transitions, for example, will proceed spontaneously in one direction or the other depending upon the temperature of the substance in question. Likewise, some chemical reactions can also exhibit temperature-dependent spontaneities. To illustrate this concept, the equation relating free energy change to the enthalpy and entropy changes for the process is considered:
6.7K
Calculating Standard Free Energy Changes02:49

Calculating Standard Free Energy Changes

20.6K
The free energy change for a reaction that occurs under the standard conditions of 1 bar pressure and at 298 K is called the standard free energy change. Since free energy is a state function, its value depends only on the conditions of the initial and final states of the system. A convenient and common approach to the calculation of free energy changes for physical and chemical reactions is by use of widely available compilations of standard state thermodynamic data. One method involves the...
20.6K
An Introduction to Free Energy01:05

An Introduction to Free Energy

8.2K
How can we compare the energy that releases from one reaction to that of another reaction? We use a measurement of free energy to quantitate these energy transfers. Scientists call this free energy Gibbs free energy (abbreviated with the letter G) after Josiah Willard Gibbs, the scientist who developed the measurement. According to the second law of thermodynamics, all energy transfers involve losing some energy in an unusable form such as heat, resulting in entropy. Gibbs free energy...
8.2K
Free Energy and Equilibrium00:55

Free Energy and Equilibrium

6.0K
The free energy change for a process may be viewed as a measure of its driving force. A negative value for ΔG represents a driving force for the process in the forward direction, while a positive value represents a driving force for the process in the reverse direction. When ΔG is zero, the forward and reverse driving forces are equal, and the process occurs in both directions at the same rate (the system is at equilibrium).
The reaction quotient, Q, is a convenient measure of the...
6.0K
Gibbs Free Energy02:39

Gibbs Free Energy

32.6K
One of the challenges of using the second law of thermodynamics to determine if a process is spontaneous is that it requires measurements of the entropy change for the system and the entropy change for the surroundings. An alternative approach involving a new thermodynamic property defined in terms of system properties only was introduced in the late nineteenth century by American mathematician Josiah Willard Gibbs. This new property is called the Gibbs free energy (G) (or simply the free...
32.6K

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Retrocausal Capacity of a Quantum Channel: Communicating through Noisy Closed Timelike Curves.

Physical review letters·2026
Same author

Estimating the amount of computation done by a brain using population neural activity.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
Same author

One-shot distillation with constant overhead using catalysts.

Nature communications·2026
Same author

Entropy production bounds for systems running computer programs.

PNAS nexus·2026
Same author

Quantum Stroboscopy for Time Measurements.

Physical review letters·2026
Same author

Realization of two-dimensional discrete time crystals with anisotropic Heisenberg coupling.

Nature communications·2026
Same journal

Research on a Regional Availability Evaluation Model for Road-Area High-Entropy Energy Based on Synergy Factors.

Entropy (Basel, Switzerland)·2026
Same journal

Atmospheric Turbulence Channel Modeling and Performance Analysis of a CO-ZP-OFDM Coherent Optical Communication System for UAV Air-to-Ground Scenarios.

Entropy (Basel, Switzerland)·2026
Same journal

Information Geometry and Asymptotic Theory for SMML Estimators.

Entropy (Basel, Switzerland)·2026
Same journal

Correlation Entropy and Power-Law Kinetics.

Entropy (Basel, Switzerland)·2026
Same journal

Research on the Contagion of Systemic Financial Risk Under the Impact of Climate Risks-From the Perspective of Complex Networks and Machine Learning.

Entropy (Basel, Switzerland)·2026
Same journal

The Statistical-Mechanical Meaning of the Wave Function of Quantum Mechanics.

Entropy (Basel, Switzerland)·2026
See all related articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 31, 2025

Generic Protocol for Optimization of Heterologous Protein Production Using Automated Microbioreactor Technology
06:24

Generic Protocol for Optimization of Heterologous Protein Production Using Automated Microbioreactor Technology

Published on: December 15, 2017

10.0K

Maximizing Free Energy Gain.

Artemy Kolchinsky1, Iman Marvian2, Can Gokler3

  • 1Department of Medicine and Life Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 08003 Barcelona, Spain.

Entropy (Basel, Switzerland)
|January 24, 2025
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

This study explores maximizing free energy gain from classical or quantum systems driven by their environment. It identifies conditions for optimizing initial states and reveals distinct easy and difficult regimes for finding these states.

Keywords:
free energynonequilibrium thermodynamicsquantum mechanics

More Related Videos

Exploring Caspase Mutations and Post-Translational Modification by Molecular Modeling Approaches
05:56

Exploring Caspase Mutations and Post-Translational Modification by Molecular Modeling Approaches

Published on: October 13, 2022

1.3K
Unraveling Entropic Rate Acceleration Induced by Solvent Dynamics in Membrane Enzymes
09:42

Unraveling Entropic Rate Acceleration Induced by Solvent Dynamics in Membrane Enzymes

Published on: January 16, 2016

9.0K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 31, 2025

Generic Protocol for Optimization of Heterologous Protein Production Using Automated Microbioreactor Technology
06:24

Generic Protocol for Optimization of Heterologous Protein Production Using Automated Microbioreactor Technology

Published on: December 15, 2017

10.0K
Exploring Caspase Mutations and Post-Translational Modification by Molecular Modeling Approaches
05:56

Exploring Caspase Mutations and Post-Translational Modification by Molecular Modeling Approaches

Published on: October 13, 2022

1.3K
Unraveling Entropic Rate Acceleration Induced by Solvent Dynamics in Membrane Enzymes
09:42

Unraveling Entropic Rate Acceleration Induced by Solvent Dynamics in Membrane Enzymes

Published on: January 16, 2016

9.0K

Area of Science:

  • Thermodynamics
  • Quantum mechanics
  • Statistical mechanics

Background:

  • Maximizing harvested work is crucial for biological and technological systems like photosynthesis, fuels, and batteries.
  • Understanding free energy gain from environmental driving is key to efficient energy harvesting and storage.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the maximization of free energy gain in classical and quantum systems driven by their environment.
  • To determine how initial system states and preparation costs affect free energy gain.
  • To identify conditions for optimizing initial states and analyze the complexity of finding them.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of free energy gain considering initial state and preparation cost.
  • Derivation of necessary and sufficient conditions for increasing free energy gain.
  • Formulation of relationships between optimal and suboptimal initial states.
  • Investigation of distinct regimes (easy/difficult) for optimal initial state determination based on temperature.

Main Results:

  • Established simple conditions for enhancing free energy gain by adjusting the initial state.
  • Derived formulas quantifying the benefit of using an optimal initial state.
  • Demonstrated that finding the optimal initial state can fall into either an easy or a difficult regime, depending on preparation and extraction temperatures.
  • Illustrated findings using a model of an information engine.

Conclusions:

  • The study provides a framework for optimizing free energy extraction from driven systems.
  • The findings offer insights into the fundamental limits and practical strategies for energy harvesting and storage.
  • The identification of distinct computational regimes has implications for designing efficient energy conversion devices.