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Topic: Stability of Iron Oxides  (Read 2426 times)

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Offline big

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Stability of Iron Oxides
« on: March 20, 2012, 09:59:56 PM »
Which is more thermodynamically stable, Fe2O3 or Fe3O4?

I looked up the  :delta: G f° for them both, and for Fe3O4 it was -1015.4 kJ/mol, while for Fe2O3 it was -742.2 kJ/mol. Since the Gibbs free energy for Fe3O4 is more negative, I thought it would be Fe3O4 that is more thermodynamically stable.

However, the answer is that Fe2O3 is the more stable one. Can someone tell me why please?

Offline Olympiad_Tutor

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Re: Stability of Iron Oxides
« Reply #1 on: March 21, 2012, 01:18:05 AM »
Consider delta G for:

Fe2O3 -> Fe3O4 + O2
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Offline vasilews

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Re: Stability of Iron Oxides
« Reply #2 on: March 21, 2012, 03:55:53 AM »
Fe3O4 can also be written as FeO.Fe2O3. That should lead you to an explanation...

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