The third law of thermodynamics states that the entropy of any substance (element or compound) in its equilibrium state approaches zero at the absolute zero of temperature.
The third law suggests that the absolute entropies can be measured and that the best reference state is at 0 K.
A new state function is introduced, the Gibbs free energy, G = H-TS. The value of DG for a process defines whether it is spontaneous, reversible or nonspontaneous.
To prepare for this lecture, we suggest that you read sections 8-6 and 8-7 of Oxtoby.
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