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In chemistry, chemical stability is the thermodynamic stability of a chemical system, in particular a chemical compound or a polymer. [ 1 ] Chemical stability may also refer to the shelf-life of a particular chemical compound; that is the duration of time before it begins to degrade in response to environmental factors.
Non-equilibrium thermodynamics is a branch of physics that studies the dynamics of statistical ensembles of molecules via unstable states. Being "stuck" in a thermodynamic trough without being at the lowest energy state is known as having kinetic stability or being kinetically persistent.
A simple example of such a system is the case of a bathtub with the tap running but with the drain unplugged: after a certain time, the water flows in and out at the same rate, so the water level (the state variable Volume) stabilizes and the system is in a steady state. The steady state concept is different from chemical equilibrium.
The equilibrium in water solution may be shifted towards either compound. For example, the equilibrium constant for the conversion of acetone (H 3 C) 2 C =O to propane-2,2-diol (H 3 C) 2 C(OH) 2 is about 10 −3, [1] while that of formaldehyde H 2 C =O to methanediol H 2 C(OH) 2 is 10 3. [2] For conversion of hexafluoroacetone (F 3 C) 2 C =O to ...
If a dynamic equilibrium is disturbed by changing the conditions, the position of equilibrium moves to partially reverse the change. For example, adding more S (to the chemical reaction above) from the outside will cause an excess of products, and the system will try to counteract this by increasing the reverse reaction and pushing the ...
In chemistry, a suspension is a heterogeneous mixture of a fluid that contains solid particles sufficiently large for sedimentation. The particles may be visible to the naked eye , usually must be larger than one micrometer , and will eventually settle , although the mixture is only classified as a suspension when and while the particles have ...
Chemical equilibrium is a dynamic state in which forward and backward reactions proceed at such rates that the macroscopic composition of the mixture is constant. Thus, equilibrium sign ⇌ symbolizes the fact that reactions occur in both forward ⇀ {\displaystyle \rightharpoonup } and backward ↽ {\displaystyle \leftharpoondown } directions.
In a conservative force field, bistability stems from the fact that the potential energy has two local minima, which are the stable equilibrium points. [2] These rest states need not have equal potential energy. By mathematical arguments, a local maximum, an unstable equilibrium point, must lie between the two minima. At rest, a particle will ...