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:

    “The mere fact of leaving ultimate social control in the hands of the people has not guaranteed that men will be able to conduct their lives as free men. Those societies where men know they are free are often democracies, but sometimes they have strong chiefs and kings. ... they have, however, one common characteristic: they are all alike in making certain freedoms common to all citizens, and inalienable.”
    —Ruth Benedict (1887–1948)

    “The persons who constitute the natural aristocracy, are not found in the actual aristocracy, or, only on its edge; as the chemical energy of the spectrum is found to be greatest just outside of the spectrum.”
    —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)