Specific Question on Kaplan PS Sectional 2

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Suffusion

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Hopefully this is in the right forum/I'm allowed to ask it.



I took the second Kaplan PS sectional and had a problem with question 25. It asks if entropy increases or decreases for photosynthesis. We're told that delG for the reaction is 686 kcal/mol and that delH is 2800 kJ/mol. Kaplan says entropy decreases by analyzing the equation (you wind up with less moles, solids instead of gas, etc), I say it has to increase to make G=H-TS work.



Am I missing something here? Thermodynamics is one of my weak spots so probably :oops:

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Hopefully this is in the right forum/I'm allowed to ask it.



I took the second Kaplan PS sectional and had a problem with question 25. It asks if entropy increases or decreases for photosynthesis. We're told that delG for the reaction is 686 kcal/mol and that delH is 2800 kJ/mol. Kaplan says entropy decreases by analyzing the equation (you wind up with less moles, solids instead of gas, etc), I say it has to increase to make G=H-TS work.



Am I missing something here? Thermodynamics is one of my weak spots so probably :oops:

In the information you provided, delta G and delta H are both positive. In the equation G=H-TS, you would end up with a positive delta G if the term TS was negative, because then you would end up with G=H-(-TS)=G=H+TS, giving you a positive value for delta G.
 
In the information you provided, delta G and delta H are both positive. In the equation G=H-TS, you would end up with a positive delta G if the term TS was negative, because then you would end up with G=H-(-TS)=G=H+TS, giving you a positive value for delta G.

But doesn't the fact that G is smaller than H when they are both positive indicate that S must be positive but not large enough to make G negative?
 
hmm yeah that is true.. but i guess you just have to look at the big picture instead of the overall equation.. its definitely true that entropy decreases in photosynthesis tho..
 
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But doesn't the fact that G is smaller than H when they are both positive indicate that S must be positive but not large enough to make G negative?

Yeah, I thought about that at first as well. I suppose you have to look at the equation of photosynthesis to see that entropy is decreasing, as the poster above suggests.
 
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