Why does a reaction spontaneously occur?
Gibbs free energy
Why does a reaction spontaneously occur?
Imagine you're at a party and decide to mix different colored sand into a glass. You pour them in separately, but they don't mix on their own.
Some mixtures, like sand colors, naturally come together without extra effort, while others don't. This happens because of a balance between energy needed and the disorder created.
Example
Mixing red and blue sand results in purple sand without extra effort, showing a spontaneous reaction.
Remember this
A spontaneous reaction occurs when the energy released plus the disorder created is positive, indicating a natural tendency to proceed.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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