[SGVLUG] [OT] "Gibbs" and ??? (was: Help spread the word)

[David Lawyer]

On Thu, Jun 21, 2007 at 03:07:40PM -0700, Emerson, Tom (*IC) wrote:
> As this topic further splinters and diverges, Dustin commented:

> Hmmm... I'll admit I had to bite on this -- since I wasn't really sure
> what "context" you were implying, I decided to try this google search:
> "Gibbs Vacuum"
> 
> Results:
[snip]
>   6) "Available energy, parts I & II" [cue David Lawyer's discussion of
> "total energy of a system..."]
[snip]

I discussed embedded (or embodied) energy and not Gibbs energy.
Arguing that the energy used for ones education becomes embedded in a
person and is expended during the life of that person when they
utilized that education is far removed from Gibbs (although I got two
D's in thermodynamics in 1955-6).  

Upon looking it up G = H - TS where H is enthalpy, T is Temp. and S is
entropy.  G is of course the Gibbs state variable.  By finding
delta-G for const. temp. and pressure, we can determine whether or not
a certain chemical reaction will proceed spontaneously.  And BTW, I
got an F in chemistry.  But I scored in the top 1 percentile on the
graduate record exam in engineering and had a difficult time getting
into a top grad school because people would not believe that someone
with so many F's and D's on his transcript could have possibly gotten
such a high score on the exam.

			David Lawyer