A term that describes the state of a phase in which an energy barrier
considerably higher than
must be surmounted before this
phase can transform to a phase of lower molar
Gibbs
energy and molar
Helmholtz energy,
where
is the
Boltzmann
constant and
the
thermodynamic temperature.
Note:
In a thermodynamic sense, the
equilibrium state is the state with the lowest molar Gibbs energy; a
metastable state corresponds to a relative minimum in the molar Gibbs
energy.
Source:
PAC, 1994, 66, 577
(Definitions of terms relating to phase transitions of the solid state (IUPAC Recommendations
1994))
on page 586
Cite as:
IUPAC. Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 2nd ed. (the "Gold Book"). Compiled by
A. D. McNaught and A. Wilkinson. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford (1997).
XML on-line corrected version: http://goldbook.iupac.org (2006-) created by M. Nic,
J. Jirat, B. Kosata; updates compiled by A. Jenkins. ISBN 0-9678550-9-8.
https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.
