Re: Goo prophylaxis

Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Fri, 29 Aug 1997 00:59:47 -0500


Anders Sandberg wrote:
>
> I think there is some confusion here about binding energy etc (no
> wonder, I'm not 100% sure about the terminology myself). Just to
> get things straight: each molecule has an enthalpy, which is
> roughly its "chemical potential". If chemical A and B are transformed
> into chemicals C and D, the difference in total enthalpy tells
> us how much energy is needed to cause the reaction (if the
> difference is negative), or how much energy is released (if the
> difference is positive). These are absolute thermodynamic constraints,
> in addition energy might be needed to start the reaction, although
> this can be lowered using catalysts.

"Enthalpy, or heat content, is a thermodynamic quantity. It is equal to the
sum of the internal energy of a system plus the product of the pressure-volume
work done on the system." (Handbook of Chemistry and Physics 41st ed.)

-- 
         sentience@pobox.com      Eliezer S. Yudkowsky
          http://tezcat.com/~eliezer/singularity.html
           http://tezcat.com/~eliezer/algernon.html
Disclaimer:  Unless otherwise specified, I'm not telling you
everything I think I know.