Demythicizing the Gibbs potential for determination of chemical equilibrium conditions

The authors show mathematically how the chemical equilibrium of a multicomponent system can be characterized by the minimization of either the Gibbs or the Helmholtz free energy, or more uncommonly on the pressure or volume with respect to the degree of reaction, depending on the conditions of the system. The equivalence of the thermodynamic potentials emphasizes that the search for the equilibrium conditions is based on a mathematical virtual process and that the knowledge of the real physicochemical transformation that brings the system into the equilibrium state is irrelevant.