Free Energy Concept

• In bioenergetics, free energy refers to the portion of a system’s energy that is available to do work.
• The specific form of energy used to understand biological reactions is called Gibbs Energy (G).
• It helps predict whether a chemical reaction will occur spontaneously under constant temperature and pressure.
  • Gibbs Energy (G) is defined by the equation:
  • $$\Delta G=\Delta H-T\Delta S$$
  • where:
    • ΔG = change in free energy,
    • ΔH = change in enthalpy (total energy),
    • T = absolute temperature (in Kelvin),
    • ΔS = change in entropy (disorder).
• ΔG helps determine whether a reaction is spontaneous (favorable) or non-spontaneous (unfavourable):
  • If ΔG<0, the reaction is spontaneous (releases energy).
  • If ΔG>0, the reaction is non-spontaneous (requires energy input).
  • If ΔG=0, the system is in equilibrium, and no net energy change occurs.

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