The stumbling block of all our research has been and remains the thermodynamics of the reaction of low-temperature decomposition of hydrogen sulfide into constituent elements, as well as the unusual state and properties of the resulting diatomic gaseous sulfur. Since sulfur and hydrogen sulfide have been known since ancient times and an incredible amount of research has been devoted to the study of their properties, the discovery of some fundamentally new states of sulfur caused a categorical rejection of all the experimental evidence we obtained, and we ourselves were labeled as illiterate charlatans and crooks who strive to surprise the world with “outstanding discovery “(quote from Parmon)
Indeed, classical equilibrium thermodynamics considers only isolated systems that do not exchange either matter or energy with the environment. In these systems, chemical processes are carried out by supplying energy from outside, so the rate and direction of the process depends only on external conditions, and the catalyst does not change the thermodynamics of the process.
At the same time, all processes occurring in Nature are carried out at ambient temperature and pressure without supplying energy from outside (in this case, we consider only dark processes without the participation of sunlight). All biological processes are far from equilibrium and are irreversible, therefore, to describe them, nonequilibrium thermodynamics, or thermodynamics of irreversible processes, was created, which was formed as an independent scientific discipline in the middle of the last century and one of its creators is I.R. Prigogine. Distinctive features of biological thermodynamics is that the systems it considers are open to flows of matter and energy. The inevitability of the appearance of this science was due to the understanding that the vast majority of processes occurring in nature and with the participation of humans are irreversible and cannot be described within the framework of the existing “classical” equilibrium thermodynamics, which does not take into account the time factor.
In terms of nonequilibrium thermodynamics for an open system, the role of catalysts becomes clear, on the surface of which chemical reactions are carried out which are impossible in the gas phase. This material was sent on 04.16.2018 for publication in the journal Kinetics and Catalysis, however a negative review was received. The corrected version of the manuscript was sent on July 16, 2018 to the Journal of Physical Chemistry, where after six months of review and replacement of 4 (four !!!) reviewers, on February 23, 2019, Startsev’s review was rejected.
Due to the lack of prospects for publication in Russian journals, it was decided to publish this review in the public domain on our website.
KeyRole-Startsev-2019 DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.28119.21921
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