Chemical potential Terms Pills Commentary

Josiah Willard Gibbs thermodynamics

Chemical potential

In a thermodynamic system, potential energy can be absorbed or released during a chemical reaction or phase transition, or, if everything’s in equilibrium, then the potential energy is zero.

Terms

Josiah Willard Gibbs examined the energy of a system in terms of its entropy, volume, pressure, and temperature, and formulated how adding a molecule affects its energy. He coined the term enthalpy. * Gibbs coined the term statistical mechanics. He created a more general formulation of the statistical properties of systems of many particles than James Clerk Maxwell or Ludwig Boltzmann.

Pills

The three weird sisters boil poisoned entrails for a charm. We toss back aspirin and probiotics. Fish is brain food; fructose is energy food. Each pill, we feel, helps quantify our future.