AVOIDING FIRST-YEAR UNIVERSITY CHEMISTRY TEXTBOOKS’ MISREPRESENTATIONS IN THE TEACHING OF SPONTANEOUS REACTIONS

Abstract

This paper summarizes the misrepresentations related to Gibbs energy in general chemistry textbooks. These misrepresentations arise from a problem in the terminology textbooks use. Thus, after reviewing the proper definition of each of the terms analyzed, we present two problems to exemplify the correct treatment of the quantities involved, which may help in the discussion and clarification of the misleading conventions and assumptions reported in this study.

Keywords

• first-year chemistry
• textbooks
• spontaneity