I hate it when I find myself in a relationship, and all I get is the runaround. I eventually get the picture when someone else does not reciprocate my feelings, but what a waste of time and energy. It is certainly true that a process or reaction that leads to a lowered enthalpy (a thermodynamic quantity equivalent to the total heat content of a system. It is equal to the internal energy of the system plus the product of pressure and volume) is generally spontaneous, there are also spontaneous processes in which there is no enthalpy (or even an increased heat content). For example, there is no enthalpy change when a gas expands to fill any available volume, and the ice above zero degrees Celsius spontaneously changes to liquid water is higher than that of the solid ice. The spontaneity in these cases arises through a different energy factor. In both of them, there is a change in the randomness of the system. #RyanPhillippe 1 of 5

The spreading out of the gas molecules results in an increases randomness of the gaseous system, and the molecules of liquid water are more randomly arranged then in solid ice.  You are probably familiar with many common spontaneous events that occur with an increased in entropy, with a tendency toward increasing disorder. A new deck of playing cards will fall into a randomized mixture, increasing the entropy of the cards; only by providing your energy input can you once again order the cards. A clean, organized room has a definite tendency to become disorganized after a person of use. These are specific examples of a general phenomenon, the tendency of increasing entropy in natural processes. An increase in entropy (randomness) is described as a favorable or positive change; a decrease in entropy (less randomness, more order) is an unfavorable or negative change. #RyanPhillippe 2 of 5

Oh, love is the crooked thing, there is nobody wise enough to find out all that is in it, for he would be thinking of love till the stars had run away and the shadows eaten the moon. Thus there are two energy factors that determine spontaneity: changes in enthalpy and changes in entropy. The American scientist Josiah Willard Gibbs (1839-1903) combined these ideas into the concept of free energy. Free energy is defined as the energy available to do useful work. Knowledge about free energy, the change in free energy, is totally sufficient to predict the spontaneity of a reaction. The mathematical relationship between free energy, enthalpy, and entropy is as follows: change in free energy = change in enthalpy – absolute temperature multiplied by change in entropy for a particular process or chemical reaction at a fixed temperature. If a reaction or process leads to a lowered free energy, the reaction is spontaneous, nature tends toward minimum energy. Such a process is termed exergonic. #RyanPhillippe 3 of 5

In the opposite case, where the products of a reaction have a higher free-energy content than the reactants, the reaction is termed endergonic. You may ask, since free energy gives the total picture of spontaneity, why we previously considered only enthalpy, which does not always tell the whole story? The answer is that heats of reaction changes in enthalpy are much more easily determined experimentally than are change in free energy values. Thus enthalpy data are much more readily available. Also, in many cases entropy cases entropy changes are small or such as to enhance the effect of the enthalpy change. Why can they not just come out and say what they are feeling? At least I would know where I stand and could act accordingly? Do we really have to go through all of this chemistry and spell it out? #RyanPhillippe 4 of 5

A person’s feelings of frustration is understandable. However, one can attempt to resolve some of the uncertainty by asking the other person about his or her feelings. Jake and I had gone out several times, and at first he acted like he was attracted to me. However, then he began to treat me more like a friend. He continued to ask me out, but made no sexual gestures. I finally told him I was confused about how he felt about me. He seemed very concerned about my feelings as he told me that he wanted a friendship with me instead of a romantic relationship. I felt disappointed, and it was a little touch on my ego to not be desired sexually, but I decided that a friendship with him would be nice. And several years later, we are still friends. Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own. #RyanPhillippe 5 of 5