Free Energy

Free energy may refer to:

In science:

  • Thermodynamic free energy, the energy in a physical system that can be converted to do work, in particular:
    • Helmholtz free energy, the energy that can be converted into work at a constant temperature and volume
    • Work content, a related concept used in chemistry
    • Gibbs free energy, the energy that can be converted into work at a uniform temperature and pressure throughout a system
  • Variational free energy, a construct from Information theory that is used in Variational Bayesian methods

In pseudoscience:

  • Free energy device, a hypothetical device that creates energy in a hypothetical isolated system, i.e. without any external input, thereby contradicting the laws of thermodynamics
  • Free energy suppression, a conspiracy theory that advanced energy technologies are being suppressed by special interest groups

In music

  • Free Energy (band), a 5-piece rock band on DFA Records

Famous quotes containing the words free and/or energy:

    “We are all bound to the throne of the Supreme Being by a flexible chain which restrains without enslaving us. The most wonderful aspect of the universal scheme of things is the action of free beings under divine guidance.”
    —Joseph De Maistre (1753–1821)

    “Perhaps catastrophe is the natural human environment, and even though we spend a good deal of energy trying to get away from it, we are programmed for survival amid catastrophe.”
    —Germaine Greer (b. 1939)