Description
Chemical potential is a form of potential energy that can be absorbed or released during a chemical reaction and/or a phase transition. This physical property can be used to determine if a system is at a thermodynamic equilibrium. As such, it defines such aspects as melting point and boiling point, and can be used to characterize evaporation, solubility, osmosis and partition coefficient in liquid-liquid extractions and chromatography. Chemical potential and electric force constitute the electrochemical potential of ions.