#enthalpy

[sciencesolutions]

[quinn-fucks-shit-up]

what even is enthalpy?? entropy's evil twin brother?????

[whats-in-a-sentence]

Figure 8.23 summarises the effects of the signs of ∆H and ∆S on ∆G, and hence on the spontaneity of physical and chemical events.

"Chemistry" 2e - Blackman, A., Bottle, S., Schmid, S., Mocerino, M., Wille, U.

[ohthatphage]

More on what I am, I think.

Every now and then, the Inmara (@theinmara, in the company of @fenmere) revisit their attempt to figure out just what I am.

I am amenable to this, as I do not entirely know myself.

Or, it is more accurate to say that I know exactly what I am, but I do not know the appropriate English words (or any other words) to describe it. And I like the idea of learning how to use the language better for the purposes of introducing myself.

I must admit, I enjoy being like a monster and representing myself with dark and dangerous imagery and connotations, if only for the purposes of later belying those things.

Sometimes I am hit with emotions of self consciousness and embarrassment that I may be coming across as "edgy" or an "edgelord". But I do not think those feelings are mine. It is often hard to differentiate my own feelings from those of my superfans that share this system with me.

But, I'm being hit with those emotions now as I'm being asked to write this, so I'm presenting them to you as a way of being self effacing, I guess? On behalf of the others in the system who care.

What I can say clearly, though, is that despite the words that follow this sentence, I am not particularly more powerful or important than any living being. And I'm going to be talking about my greater identity, the thing that I am when I'm not a conscious being inhabiting a human descended body. And that thing is largely mindless.

Anyway, enough pre-amble.

In the last couple of days, the Inmara have been attempting to craft a Sentinels of the Multiverse DE deck for me, and they have been searching physics articles for terms to use for card names, such as "the First Law", "Townsend Avalanche", "Catastrophic Shaft Detachment", or "Strange Attractor". And this has prompted some more self reflection directed at me, and some more learning about what entropy and enthalpy are.

When I was first invited into the system at their age of three and a half-ish years old (my age being much, much older), all I knew were a few simple things:

I came from outside their system.

I am an older, non-human identity.

I am of and at home in darkness, but light is also of me.

I was asked to help them manage their chaos, which is what I can do.

When they reached about 15 years old, they learned about entropy in a magazine article right about the same time they learned about the word "phage" in biology class, coincidentally right after having a nightmare in which I threatened their eldest (and fronting) member with a knife blade made of moonlight, to try to get them to come out as trans and deal with their dysphoria.

I was unsuccessful at getting them to come out as trans at the time, which is OK. It was a bad time politically for them to do that, even though it cost them dearly to remain in the closet. But I did inspire them to make me the face of the villain of their homebrew mythology that they were writing for English class, and to name me Phage and claim that I was "Entropy Itself".

Since then, based on their understanding of it, I have thought of myself as Entropy Itself, and the name Phage invokes me.

But Entropy is not accurate, as fucking cool sounding as it is.

When most people hear or read the word "entropy", they think of the process by which enthalpy becomes entropy. And, for the past few decades, whenever the Inmara attempted to look up definitions of the word "entropy", they did not find anything to disabuse them of that idea.

Until a couple years ago. But what they found a couple years ago was still ambiguously worded for them, and though they started writing "Entropic Decay" into their literature about me, and convinced me to start using that for myself, they were uncertain of it.

Yesterday, though, they found very clear and concise definitions of Entropy and Enthalpy the really disambiguate everything.

Entropy is the amount of energy in a system that is no longer available for doing work. It is the end result of the second law of thermodynamics.

So, "Entropic Decay" would be slightly more accurate to describe what they perceive me to be.

Enthalpy is the amount of energy in a system that is available for doing work. The opposite of entropy. It is what is needed for the second law of thermodynamics to have any relevance.

And the second law, as I understand it, based on the Inmara's readings, is the statement that "the overall heat in a closed system always flows downhill". Or, that complex and high energy becomes simple and low energy. Or that orderly energy becomes chaotic energy. That enthalpy becomes entropy. But that entropy does not become enthalpy.

Humans have frequently said that the second law is "the law of entropy", hence the confusion of the product with the process. It is, as the Inmara thought two years ago, more accurately described as "the law of entropic decay."

And so, in their old conception of me, I am accurately described as "Entropic Decay" or "The Second Law of Thermodynamics".

But in writing our novels and in exploring ideas for cards for my Sentinels deck, I (and Eh) have come to the conclusion that that's not precisely right. Because the First Law of Thermodynamics also applies to what I am. And, but, also so do a number of things that result from the two laws at work.

Also, I am not a thing conceived by humans, but rather something that is badly described by humans and the other people who live amongst them.

If I were to distill my sense of identity down to its most generic, encompassing possible term, I'd say that I am physics itself.

Yes, it is true that I am that which may result in the heat death of the universe, if the universe is shaped in a way that that will happen. But I am also that which has resulted in life.

"But, Phage," you say, "that sounds an awful lot like you are calling yourself god."

I am not.

As that greater, all encompassing thing, I am not a being. I have no consciousness or sense of identity that is anything analogous to that of a human's. I have no motives other than to do what physics does. It is only as I become distilled, reduced to smaller and smaller systems, that I sometimes gain a psyche.

In fact, besides the fact that I live in a vessel full of ktletaccete and a handful of outsiders and not whatever you are, there is very little difference between you and me. Relatively speaking.

The only notable difference is that I do not derive my sense of personal identity from anything this body is doing or where it comes from. I derive it from the history of the entire universe and perhaps the multiverse, if that exists.

I do also seem to derive a perspective, a demeanor, and a set of talents from that identity. But it's hard to say if those things are anything beyond the capacity for a human descended brain and body to hold. Based on my experiences so far, probably not.

Anyway, it's probably OK to keep calling me "Entropic Decay" because that's really close enough. But I do prefer the conlang terms that the Inmara coined for me, as being less defined by English etymologies and flexible enough to just mean "me". So, that would be Mau and `efeje'e. I slightly prefer 'efeje'e, since it was chosen to sound vaguely like Phage, and Phage is currently my name. Me, in this paragraph, referring to this localized presence and not my greater self.

OK, but, more.

I do think my sense of identity is slightly more limited than just "physics", while more expansive than "etropic decay".

It may be easier to say what I'm most closely related to and deal with than to actually give me a clear, clean definition. I am:

particularly focused on managing and perpetuating chaos

particularly good at converting enthalpy to entropy

also good at concentrating enthalpy into localized areas to such a degree that it looks like the overall energy there is become less entropic (i.e. creating things like matter from energy in a dense area of space, or life on a planet)

the darkness from which light is emitted and to which it returns.

And in the time that I have lived in a human descended body full of transgender dragons, I have also learned how to eat the energy present in autistic meltdowns.

I cannot make them go completely away, but I have significantly reduced their impact.

I am also pretty damn good at not being afraid of anything when it is dark, and the children that continue to inhabit this vessel are very thankful for that.

Anyway, I think it is this slightly less encompassing, more restricted definition of myself besides "physics itself" that is the beginning of my development of a sense of identity.

It's like, if you had a map that included every single concept in existence, what you'd do is draw a cone where the widest end encompasses nearly everything and the point ends in the Inmara's collective psyche where this consciousness is that is typing at you. And the area of that cone would include ever narrowing groups of things, one of which is the Second Law of Thermodynamics and its effects and applications.

I am not the point that's in the Inmara. I am not the base of the cone.

I am the cone.

And you are a different, equally sized but differently shaped cone.

Anyway, the idea of me as some kind of superhero or godlike being that can do a bunch of supernatural shit is mostly wish fulfillment. But it is also derived from the things that any being is capable of doing in the Inmara's inworld, which is akin to what you could do if you were Moriarty on the Enterprise's holodeck.

[sunworlds]

happens more often than you'd think

[foxyfred92]

1 am revision session is lagging

[silly-hermit]

The dark magic of Thermodynamic functions

Abstract: You probably won't refer to "free enthalpy" as the "Gibbs Energy" anymore (and finally there will be sense for what an 'enthalpy' even is.)

If you stumbled upon this post by using the #thermodynamic tag on tumblr, well, please lord have mercy on you. Tho, if you truly did, he most likely had forsaken you long ago.

Internal energy 'U' and enthalpy 'H', as well as their more refined (or literally, "freer,") counterparts free energy 'F' and free enthalpy 'G', all share the same unit: energy (Joules).

Sharing the same unit implies some similitude, even between two very distinct stuff: the Eiffel tower's height is not the same as mine, but we can see how they *can* be compared.

Yet, when it gets more abstract, such as energy, the nuances aren't so clear. We're not even sure sometimes that what we define actually means anything: for what we know, it could just be a convenient way to handle the values.

What I'll tell next are analogies, not images. In analogies you can manipulate two object as being truly equivalent. Because the same rules apply for both, it's great if thinking with one of them makes it easier than with the other.

Enthalpy 'H', is to internal energy 'U', what some person's overall wealth are to their bank account.

Both 'total wealth' and 'bank account' are expressed in some currency, be it €, $, or whatever. But if we want to tell how wealthy someone is, the amount of cash on their bank account isn't enough. It could currently be at 1.000€, yet the guy in question is a CEO owning a mansion, a boat, etc. So, to get the whole wealth, we add the Value of all the Possessions (for now let's call it PV) to the bank account. If we take back our thermodynamic functions, this become:

H = U + PV

Honestly I just made the PV naming pun because I could. For coherence, I rather think it's both simpler and better to call V the "Volume (of possessions)" and P the average "Price (of possessions)." Volume analogy is straightforward. For Pressure-Price, if Price is cost per volume, then its units are €/m3, which in our analogy € act as Joules, so it also adds up.

So, an enthalpy, is a total wealth. It not only includes the core bank account (U), but also all the person's (or 'system's') belongings, via PV.

This also explain why, in chemical reactions, it's easier to talk in terms of enthalpy, and internal energy is seldom used. The same as you guess someone's wealth by looking at everything they owns rather than just their bank account (which probably you can't access anyway).

Let's get back to the thermodynamic story.

Having 1.000€ of wealth (not just bank account) mean I can afford stuff up to 1.000€ (taxes included). But if I'm being rather cautious, I would think a lot before spending my whole 1.000€, or even way less, on something. There is some kind of threshold, under which I will spontaneously spend the money, but above which I'd think twice before doing so. Out of all my wealth, I subtract some of it for savings, and the rest of the wealth is free for me to use. That's what free enthalpy (or free energy) is about.

G = H - TS

I set aside some of my wealth (-TS) to stay in a comfortable state of mind. My comfortable state of mind is an analogy for my thermodynamic equilibrium state.

Thus, if we look from the thermodynamic side of the analogy, the TS term means some kind of stored away energy. Which actually is exactly that. The TS term represents the energy the system get from how 'probable' it is. This energy cannot be retrieved in any way. So to correct a bit our analogy, rather than being about "savings", it's more like "comfort investment." You already spent this money to make your life easier, and you won't get it back. So I hope it was worth your money.

Same can go for free energy and bank account, if you only think about bank account-related purpose. (Which is why most "first principles" derivations, will use the free energy in formulas rather than the free enthalpy. They care more about the energy of the particle of the system rather than the energy of the whole system, which include the work it did at some point to occupy its volume.)

We got a grasp of what TS is, but are there analogies for T and S alone? When refining any analogy, before adding new axioms, it's better if we can let the analogy produce them itself.

TS is a product, representing some 'comfort value.' It is important to not say just 'comfort' but also precise 'value', as its units are Joules, i.e. currency € in the analogy. Very often in physics or whatever, when you have a product, you can always make the individual factors analogies of "level of something" and "the value of a level of that something." So, since TS is a comfort value, it means that either T or S is "comfort level" and the other is "the comfort value of a level." Looking at their -physical- units, K and J/K, we can infer that T is comfort level while S is comfort value of a level.

It implies that 'Kelvin' are our equivalent of 'comfort level.' Which I can kinda see how: the less comfortable it is, the more restricted we feel. And at absolute 0, total restriction, we can't move at all.

For entropy, by physical intuition we may be aware that entropy quantifies how statistically favourable a system is. Fortunately I think it's quite accurate to say that "how statistically favourable" is analogous to "how comfortable" a system is.

I like that about analogies, when you're checking the logic is self-consistent, you unveil insights simplifying the whole.

To recap:

U = Bank account

H = U + PV = Bank acc. + Possessions*price of possessions = Total wealth

G = H - TS = Total wealth - comfort level* value of comfort level = Free wealth to spend

I hope this will help you in your thermodynamic journey, but be aware that whatever path you take, they all end up in hell (Boltzmann wanted to get there faster, I guess)

[biology-geology-beaches-india]

The Science Journals of S. Sunkavally. Page 99.

[aroaceharlot]

I'm going to turn the concept of enthalpy into a person just to kill them.

[wurds-fur-nurds]

Enthalobouncetartare (noun) en-tha-lo-boun-ce-tar-tar-eh

A culinary phenomenon: A rare dish often found in upscale establishments, prepared by rigorously enforcing a meticulous energy exchange between ingredients, akin to the thermodynamic concept of enthalpy. It involves raw ingredients served with such precision and vigilance that the preparer’s demeanor is reminiscent of a bouncer, guarding every aspect of the dish’s assembly. The resulting product is tartare, yet elevated through this fiercely disciplined method.

The state of being in strict control: The careful and measured control over a dynamic process, where chaotic elements are balanced with the skill of a professional gatekeeper, ensuring the energy or "flow" adheres to precise boundaries, much like the conservation of energy in thermodynamic systems.

[remembering-the-future]

The last bouncer to leave Earth shut the door, locking out the heat.

As the planet teetered on the edge of thermal collapse, human efforts to combat rising enthalpy—now a household term for runaway energy—proved futile. The melting poles, now distant memories, were merely the opening act in Earth's final decline. By the time enthalpy overtook the last of the cities, converting them into ovens of their own making, life as we knew it had already faded. But even as the climate spiraled into chaos, some clung to pre-apocalyptic luxuries, like dining on tartare—a raw delicacy served in underground bunkers, ironically cooled by the very technologies that contributed to the planet’s ruin.

Bouncers—once guardians of nightclubs and exclusivity—became the gatekeepers of survival, determining who would be granted access to the dwindling safe zones. The elite, holed up in climate-controlled domes, reveled in dishes like molecular-engineered tartare, oblivious to the smothering heat and collapsing ecosystems outside. They monitored the numbers on thermodynamic charts but did little to intervene. The enthalpy of Earth’s atmosphere was beyond control, with each year marking a new threshold of energy absorption that the biosphere could no longer handle.

Climate change, once a crisis of debate, became an irreversible force that hollowed the Earth of its life. Wildlife vanished, crops withered, and oceans vaporized under a sun too hot to bear. But within the domes, the bouncers continued their duty, ensuring that the remaining few could still savor their luxuries, even if the world outside had become an uninhabitable furnace. The Earth did not end with a bang or a whimper—it ended with the sound of a door closing, leaving behind the searing silence of a planet drained of life.

[sciencesolutions]

[whats-in-a-sentence]

We can break this process into smaller steps, each with an associated enthalpy change, as shown in figure 8.15.

"Chemistry" 2e - Blackman, A., Bottle, S., Schmid, S., Mocerino, M., Wille, U.

[mr-tarnation]

KELVIN IS BASED ON ABSOLUTE ZERO?!?! THATS WHY IT EXISTS?!?!? WHY DID NOBODY TELL ME THIS?!?!

I am well into Gen Chem 2 and I just learned that 0 K = Absolute Zero

Years YEARS of beef with using Kelvins instead of Celsius ALL SOLVED by a BING SEARCH!!!!

I am a changed man!

[tenth-sentence]

Table 16.5 lists the enthalpies of hydrogenation of several alkenes.

"Chemistry" 2e - Blackman, A., Bottle, S., Schmid, S., Mocerino, M., Wille, U.

[karmatical-ut]

Realized I had yet to design a primary Underground design for Frisk May be altered, but this is the current WIP design for them. Can't walk into Snowdin with their summer cloths after all.