- #1
chem1234
- 6
- 0
I have a thought experiment I don't understand.
Imagine there's a grain of salt that weighs 5 mg and it's 1mm above above a pool of water and it's on a very thing piece of flimsy material that takes about 1*10^-5 Newtons of force to break. Using Newton's 2nd law, I get the grain of salt is pushing downwards at a force of ~4*10^-5 Newtons. So it needs another 3*10^-5 Newtons to break the material. Since it is 1mm above the water, the work needed is 3*10^-8 Joules. ( Correct me if my math/formulas are wrong).
Using the ∆G= ∆H-T∆S. ∆H is 3*10^-8 let's say the temperature is 330 K. Assume that T∆S>3*10^-8. The entropy would be increased, I think, b/c the breaking of salt into Na and Cl- ions increases the possible microstates of the solution.
My question is, in the real world would the material break spontaneously? It seems counterintuitive. Thanks
Imagine there's a grain of salt that weighs 5 mg and it's 1mm above above a pool of water and it's on a very thing piece of flimsy material that takes about 1*10^-5 Newtons of force to break. Using Newton's 2nd law, I get the grain of salt is pushing downwards at a force of ~4*10^-5 Newtons. So it needs another 3*10^-5 Newtons to break the material. Since it is 1mm above the water, the work needed is 3*10^-8 Joules. ( Correct me if my math/formulas are wrong).
Using the ∆G= ∆H-T∆S. ∆H is 3*10^-8 let's say the temperature is 330 K. Assume that T∆S>3*10^-8. The entropy would be increased, I think, b/c the breaking of salt into Na and Cl- ions increases the possible microstates of the solution.
My question is, in the real world would the material break spontaneously? It seems counterintuitive. Thanks