Chemical stability

In <a href="/facts/Chemistry/SrNqkGVm">chemistry</a>, chemical stability is the thermodynamic stability of a chemical system, in particular a <a href="/facts/Chemical_compound/37FXqqtv">chemical compound</a> or a <a href="/facts/Polymer/eF32E50K">polymer</a>. Colloquially, it may instead refer to <a href="/facts/Kinetic_stability/H72SMWof">kinetic persistence</a>, the shelf-life of a <a href="/facts/Metastability/H72SMWof">metastable</a> substance or system; that is, the timescale over which it begins to degrade.
<a href="/facts/Thermodynamics/q4hIx3yP">Thermodynamic</a> stability occurs when a system is in its lowest <a href="/facts/Energy_level/66x51Khc">energy state</a>, or in <a href="/facts/Chemical_equilibrium/y8ToYXHp">chemical equilibrium</a> with its environment. This may be a <a href="/facts/Dynamic_equilibrium/jKq8wjyu">dynamic equilibrium</a> in which individual atoms or molecules change form, but their overall number in a particular form is <a href="/facts/Conservation_law/6g1Ay2FR">conserved</a>. This type of chemical <a href="/facts/Thermodynamic_equilibrium/1D7nGm0d">thermodynamic equilibrium</a> will persist indefinitely unless the system is changed. Chemical systems might undergo changes in the <a href="/facts/Phase_of_matter/NkHXDdN3">phase of matter</a> or a set of <a href="/facts/Chemical_reaction/GpqWlKrz">chemical reactions</a>.
State A is said to be more thermodynamically stable than state B if the <a href="/facts/Gibbs_free_energy/bvenDuzh">Gibbs free energy</a> of the change from A to B is positive.

Chemical stability open-in-new

Chemical stability