TITLE:
Communication: Phenomena That Could Make the Atomistic 2nd Law of Thermodynamics Clearer
AUTHORS:
Kuo-Chung Liu
KEYWORDS:
Atomistic View, Chemical Potential, Bonding, Extra Pressure, Curvature of Liquid, Inter-Molecular Attraction, Capillary Condensation, Surface Energy, Concentration, Merging, Solubility Product, Sintering, Ostwald Ripening, Constraints
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Materials Physics and Chemistry,
Vol.15 No.7,
July
28,
2025
ABSTRACT: In the paper entitled “Communication: A Simpler and More Applicable 2nd Law of Thermodynamics”, the author cited some well-known physical and chemical phenomena as well as speculations to elucidate that the Atomistic 2nd Law of Thermodynamics is simpler and more applicable. In the current communication, in addition to focusing on the experiments that could verify these speculations, some phenomena reported in literature are explained via the Atomistic 2nd Law of Thermodynamics and its related concepts. The reported subjects are: extra pressure ΔP inside a liquid drop, saturated vapor pressure and liquid curvature, surface energy of a liquid drop, molar chemical potential of a condensed phase, formula for the molar chemical potential of a gas, spontaneous merging between small and large liquid drops. Among these, the “surface energy of a liquid drop” is found to be (ΔP·R)/3 in which R is the radius of the liquid drop. Since this result and the related knowledge are different from current perception, a vigorous verification is required. In “molar chemical potential of a condensed phase”, the categories of inter-molecular bonding are only briefly mentioned, and an in-depth study is needed. The discussed topics are: solubility of materials, solubility product of a compound, molar chemical potential and surface energy of a solid, constraints that should be fulfilled.