The small bags of silica gel you often see in a new shoe box are placed there to control humidity. Despite its name, silica gel is a solid. It is a chemically inert, highly porous, amorphous form of SiO2. Water vapor readily adsorbs onto the surface of silica gel, so it acts as a desiccant. Despite not knowing mechanistic details of the adsorption of water onto silica gel, from the information provided, you should be able to make an educated guess about the thermodynamic characteristics of the process. Predict the signs of ΔG, ΔH, and ΔS.

Question

Zane Webster

Chemistry

24 September, 18:57

The small bags of silica gel you often see in a new shoe box are placed there to control humidity. Despite its name, silica gel is a solid. It is a chemically inert, highly porous, amorphous form of SiO2. Water vapor readily adsorbs onto the surface of silica gel, so it acts as a desiccant. Despite not knowing mechanistic details of the adsorption of water onto silica gel, from the information provided, you should be able to make an educated guess about the thermodynamic characteristics of the process. Predict the signs of ΔG, ΔH, and ΔS.

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Lila Dudley · Answer 1

So we look equation for the free Gibbs free energy (ΔG) which depends on entalpy (ΔH), temperature (T) and entropy (ΔS):

ΔG = ΔH - TΔS

ΔG is negative (-) because the water absorption on the silica gel surface is a spontaneous process.

ΔH is negative (-) because the water absorption on the silica gel surface is a exothermic process (it releases heat and if you want to desorb the water form the silica gen you need to add heat which is a endothermic process).

ΔS is negative (-) because the water is adsorbed, so from disorderly state you take the water molecules and put them in a orderly state and by doing that you decrease the entropy.