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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.
Metastability is common in physics and chemistry – from an atom (many-body assembly) to statistical ensembles of molecules (viscous fluids, amorphous solids, liquid crystals, minerals, etc.) at molecular levels or as a whole (see Metastable states of matter and grain piles below). The abundance of states is more prevalent as the systems grow ...
Atmospheric instability is a condition where the Earth's atmosphere is considered to be unstable and as a result local weather is highly variable through distance and time. [ clarification needed ] [ 1 ] Atmospheric instability encourages vertical motion, which is directly correlated to different types of weather systems and their severity.
Molecules can also undergo transitions in their vibrational or rotational energy levels. Energy level transitions can also be nonradiative, meaning emission or absorption of a photon is not involved. If an atom, ion, or molecule is at the lowest possible energy level, it and its electrons are said to be in the ground state.
The most familiar is molecular oxygen (O 2), present at significant levels in Earth's atmosphere and also known as dioxygen or triplet oxygen. Another is the highly reactive ozone (O 3). Others are: Atomic oxygen (O 1), a free radical. Singlet oxygen (O * 2), one of two metastable states of molecular oxygen. Tetraoxygen (O 4), another ...
The steady state approximation, [1] occasionally called the stationary-state approximation or Bodenstein's quasi-steady state approximation, involves setting the rate of change of a reaction intermediate in a reaction mechanism equal to zero so that the kinetic equations can be simplified by setting the rate of formation of the intermediate equal to the rate of its destruction.
In thermodynamics, a parameter representing the state of disorder of a system at the atomic, ionic, or molecular level; the greater the disorder the higher the entropy. [6] A measure of disorder in the universe or of the unavailability of the energy in a system to do work. [7] Entropy and disorder also have associations with equilibrium. [8]
Atmospheric thermodynamics is the study of heat-to-work transformations (and their reverse) that take place in the Earth's atmosphere and manifest as weather or climate. . Atmospheric thermodynamics use the laws of classical thermodynamics, to describe and explain such phenomena as the properties of moist air, the formation of clouds, atmospheric convection, boundary layer meteorology, and ...