Chemistry I / Physical Equilibria and Phase Diagrams
Practice question · Numerical answer

A solid melts at 250 K with an enthalpy of fusion of 5.0 kJ/mol. Compute its entropy of fusion in J/mol/K.

Hints
  1. At the melting point the two phases are in equilibrium, so dG is zero.
  2. That makes dS = dH/T; compute 5000/250.
Show the answer

20 (answers within ±0.5 count)

Why

At equilibrium ΔG=0\Delta G = 0, so ΔSfus=ΔHfus/Tfus=5000/250=20\Delta S_{fus} = \Delta H_{fus}/T_{fus} = 5000/250 = 20 J/mol/K. The positive value reflects the extra freedom a liquid has over a lattice.

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