Component (thermodynamics)

In thermodynamics, a component is a chemically-independent constituent of a system. The

number of components represents the minimum number of independent species necessary to
define the composition of all phases of the system.
[1]

Calculating the number of components in a system is necessary, for example, when
applying Gibbs' phase rule in determination of the number of degrees of freedom of a system.
The number of components is equal to the number of distinct chemical species (constituents),
minus the number of chemical reactions between them, minus the number of any constraints
(like charge neutrality or balance of molar quantities).
Example

Water
A system that contains water in the liquid state also contains hydronium cations and hydroxyl
anions according to the reaction:
2 H
2
O H
3
O
+
+ OH
-

The number of components in such a system is
3 chemical constituents - 1 chemical reaction - 1 constraint (charge neutrality) = 1.
CaCO
3
- CaO - CO
2
system
This is an example of a system with several phases, which at ordinary temperatures are
two solids and a gas. There are three chemical species (CaCO
3
, CaO and CO
2
) and one
reaction CaCO
3
CaO + CO
2
. The number of components is then 3 - 1 = 2.
[1]

If the composition of the same system is instead expressed in terms of ions, the number
of independent components does not change. There are now 4 chemical species (Ca
2+
,
CO
3
2-
, O
2-
and CO
2
) and the number of components is calculated as
4 chemical constituents - 1 chemical reaction - 1 constraint (charge neutrality) = 2.
Water - Hydrogen - Oxygen
The reactions included in the calculation are only those that actually occur under
the given conditions, and not those that might occur under different conditions
such as higher temperature or the presence of a catalyst. For example, the
dissociation of water into its elements does not occur at ordinary temperature, so a
system of water, hydrogen and oxygen at 25 C has 3 independent components.
[1]

References
1. ^ Jump up to:
a

b

c
Peter Atkins and Julio de Paula, "Physical Chemistry" 8th
Edition (W.H. Freeman 2006), p.175-176