chemical potential

noun

, Thermodynamics.

1. a quantity that determines the transport of matter from one phase to another: a component will flow from one phase to another when the chemical potential of the component is greater in the first phase than in the second.

chemical potential

noun

1. a thermodynamic function of a substance in a system that is the partial differential of the Gibbs function of the system with respect to the number of moles of the substance μ

Example Sentences

The equations that describe physical systems often assume that measurable features of the system -- temperature or chemical potential, for example -- can be known exactly.

From Science Daily

Russia’s deputy ambassador Dmitry Polyansky claimed there has been “no scientifically based evidence” refuting that Syria’s chemical potential was eliminated.

From Seattle Times

A crucial step in the authors’ experiment was tuning the photons’ chemical potential — a quantity that characterizes the energy that can be absorbed or released by a change in the number of photons.

From Nature

Photons are, in general, thought to have a chemical potential of zero.

From Nature

However, a non-zero chemical potential can occur in a system in which emission or absorption of photons is associated with a change in the number of other particles that have non-zero chemical potentials.

From Nature