Chemical Thermodynamics and Contemporary Humanism Chemical thermodynamics is not noted for its witticisms. Willard Gibbs was not given to fits of hilarity in his composing (or likely in his decomposing for that matter, to borrow from W. S. Gilbert). However, in addition to telling us something about the course of dl future chemical change, he was prescient enough t o contribute to the fnture of contemporary jargon (this is hnmanism?), albeit with a slight twist. The criterion for chemicalequilibrium in a closed system in which a. single reaction is occurring a t given T and P is nowadays usually written in Greek (sic) as Now one of these quantities is s very familiar one--even a freshman can talk knowledgeably about the stoichiometric coefficient. But the other often causes a furrowed brow--even learned Professors of Thermodynmnies, in their quiet moments when they feel safely away from the prying minds of students, scratch their he& ahout the chemical potential. Hence thermodynamicists do not greet each other with What's
v?
but with What's rr? and i t seems t o make more sense, zoologically speaking, especially if the query is directed to a thermodynamically "hip pussycat."
R. W. MISSEN
Volume 46, Number I , January 1969
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