Wouldn’t Gibbs free energy be more appropriate? pV should be available for work too.
I find myself slightly confused by that definition. Energy in straight quantum mechanics (or classical Newtonian mechanics) is a torsor. There is no preferred origin, and adding any constant to all the states changes the evolution not at all. It therefore must not change the extractable work. So the free energies are clearly incorrectly defined, and must instead be defined relative to the ground state. In which case, yes, you could extract all the energy above that, if you knew the precise state, and could manipulate the system finely enough.
2) Right. I clarified this two posts down: “the free energy change between two states is the work you can extract by moving between those two states.” So just like for energy, the zero point of free energy can be shifted around with no (classical) consequences, and what really matters (like what comes out of engines and stuff) is the relative free energy.
Wouldn’t Gibbs free energy be more appropriate? pV should be available for work too.
I find myself slightly confused by that definition. Energy in straight quantum mechanics (or classical Newtonian mechanics) is a torsor. There is no preferred origin, and adding any constant to all the states changes the evolution not at all. It therefore must not change the extractable work. So the free energies are clearly incorrectly defined, and must instead be defined relative to the ground state. In which case, yes, you could extract all the energy above that, if you knew the precise state, and could manipulate the system finely enough.
1) Meh.
2) Right. I clarified this two posts down: “the free energy change between two states is the work you can extract by moving between those two states.” So just like for energy, the zero point of free energy can be shifted around with no (classical) consequences, and what really matters (like what comes out of engines and stuff) is the relative free energy.