How Gibbs derived the Phase Rule

The Phase Rule formula was first stated by the American mathematical physicist Josiah Willard Gibbs in his monumental masterwork On the Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Substances (1875-1878), in which he almost single-handedly laid the theoretical foundations of chemical thermodynamics.

In a paragraph under the heading “On Coexistent Phases of Matter”, Gibbs gives the derivation of his famous formula in just 77 words. Of all the many Phase Rule proofs in the thermodynamic literature, it is one of the simplest and shortest. And yet textbooks of physical science have consistently overlooked it in favor of more complicated, less lucid derivations.

To redress this long-standing discourtesy to Gibbs, CarnotCycle here presents Gibbs’ original derivation of the Phase Rule in an up-to-date form. His purely prose description has been supplemented with clarifying mathematical content, and the outmoded symbols used in the single equation to which he refers have been replaced with their modern equivalents.

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Gibbs’ derivation

Gibbs begins by introducing the term phase to refer solely to the thermodynamic state and composition of a body (solid, liquid or vapor) without regard to its quantity. So defined, a phase cannot be described in terms of extensive variables like volume and mass, since these vary with quantity. A phase can only be described in terms of intensive variables like temperature and pressure, which do not vary with quantity.

To derive the Phase Rule, Gibbs chooses as his starting point equation 97 from his treatise, now known as the Gibbs-Duhem equation

This general thermodynamic equation, which relates to a single phase, connects the intensive variables temperature T, pressure P, and chemical potential μ where μ_n is the potential of the nth component substance. Any possible variations of these quantities sum to zero, indicating a phase in internal equilibrium.

If there are n independent component substances, the phase has a total of n+2 variables

These quantities are not all independently variable however, because they are related by the Gibbs-Duhem equation. If all but one of the quantities are varied, the variation of the last is given by the equation. A single-phase system is thus capable of (n+2) – 1 independent variations.

Now suppose we have two phases, each containing the same n components, in coexistent equilibrium with each other. Signifying one phase by a single prime and the other by a double prime we may write

since this is the definition of equilibrium between phases. So in the two-phase system the total number of variables remains unchanged at n+2, but there are now two Gibbs-Duhem equations, one for each phase. It follows that if all but two of the quantities are varied, the variations of the last two are given by the two equations. A two-phase system is thus capable of (n+2) – 2 independent variations.

It is evident from the foregoing that regardless of the number of coexistent phases in equilibrium, the total number of variables will still be n+2 while the number subtracted will be equal to the number of Gibbs-Duhem equations i.e. one for each phase.

A system of r coexistent phases is thus capable of n+2 – r independent variations, which are also called degrees of freedom (F). Therefore

This is the Phase Rule as derived by Gibbs himself. In contemporary textbooks it is usually written

where C is the number of independent components and P is the number of phases in coexistent equilibrium.

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Update

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P Mander February 2015