In chemistry, chemical stability is the thermodynamic stability of a chemical system.

Thermodynamic Thermodynamics is a branch of physics that deals with heat, work, and temperature, and their relation to energy, entropy, and the physical properties of matter and radiation. The behavior of these quantities is governed by the four laws of the ...

stability occurs when a system is in its lowest energy state, or in

chemical equilibrium In a chemical reaction, chemical equilibrium is the state in which both the Reagent, reactants and Product (chemistry), products are present in concentrations which have no further tendency to change with time, so that there is no observable chan ...

with its environment. This may be a

dynamic equilibrium In chemistry, a dynamic equilibrium exists once a reversible reaction occurs. Substances transition between the reactants and products at equal rates, meaning there is no net change. Reactants and products are formed at such a rate that the co ...

in which individual atoms or molecules change form, but their overall number in a particular form is conserved. This type of chemical

thermodynamic equilibrium Thermodynamic equilibrium is an axiomatic concept of thermodynamics. It is an internal state of a single thermodynamic system, or a relation between several thermodynamic systems connected by more or less permeable or impermeable walls. In the ...

will persist indefinitely unless the system is changed. Chemical systems might undergo changes in the phase of matter or a set of

chemical reaction A chemical reaction is a process that leads to the IUPAC nomenclature for organic transformations, chemical transformation of one set of chemical substances to another. Classically, chemical reactions encompass changes that only involve the pos ...

s. State A is said to be more thermodynamically stable than state B if the

Gibbs free energy In thermodynamics, the Gibbs free energy (or Gibbs energy; symbol G) is a thermodynamic potential that can be used to calculate the maximum amount of work that may be performed by a thermodynamically closed system at constant temperature and ...

of the change from A to B is positive.

Versus reactivity

Thermodynamic stability applies to a particular system. The reactivity of a chemical substance is a description of how it might react across a variety of potential chemical systems and, for a given system, how fast such a reaction could proceed. Chemical substances or states can persist indefinitely even though they are not in their lowest energy state if they experience

metastability In chemistry and physics, metastability denotes an intermediate energetic state within a dynamical system other than the system's state of least energy. A ball resting in a hollow on a slope is a simple example of metastability. If the ball i ...

- a state which is stable only if not disturbed too much. A substance (or state) might also be termed "kinetically persistent" if it is changing relatively slowly (and thus is not at thermodynamic equilibrium, but is observed anyway). Metastable and kinetically persistent species or systems are not considered truly stable in chemistry. Therefore, the term ''chemically stable'' should not be used by chemists as a synonym of ''unreactive'' because it confuses thermodynamic and kinetic concepts. On the other hand, highly chemically unstable species tend to undergo exothermic unimolar decompositions at high rates. Thus, high chemical instability may sometimes parallel unimolar decompositions at high rates.

Outside chemistry

In everyday language, and often in materials science, a chemical substance is said to be "stable" if it is not particularly

reactive Reactive may refer to: *Generally, capable of having a reaction (disambiguation) *An adjective abbreviation denoting a bowling ball coverstock made of reactive resin *Reactivity (chemistry) *Reactive mind *Reactive programming See also *Reactanc ...

in the environment or during normal use, and retains its useful properties on the timescale of its expected usefulness. In particular, the usefulness is retained in the presence of air, moisture or heat, and under the expected conditions of application. In this meaning, the material is said to be unstable if it can corrode, decompose, polymerize, burn or explode under the conditions of anticipated use or normal environmental conditions.

References

{{Chemical equilibria Physical chemistry Materials science