Far-from-equilibrium kinetic processes

Abstract

AbstractWe analyze the kinetics of activated processes that take place under far-from-equilibrium conditions, when the system is subjected to external driving forces or gradients or at high values of affinities. We use mesoscopic non-equilibrium thermodynamics to show that when a force is applied, the reaction rate depends on the force. In the case of a chemical reaction at high affinity values, the reaction rate is no longer constant but depends on affinity, which implies that the law of mass action is no longer valid. This result is in good agreement with the kinetic theory of reacting gases, which uses a Chapman–Enskog expansion of the probability distribution.