 Chemical potential of an ideal gas

For a pure ideal gas at temperature $T$ and pressure $p$,where $R$ is the molar gas constant and $p^{\circ }$ specifies the reference pressure of the standard state. The ratio inside the natural logarithm is dimensionless. The chemical potential difference therefore depends on a ratio of pressures, not an absolute difference. See MIT 5.60, Lecture 14, page 4.

For a chemical species in an ideal gas mixture, replace $p$ by its partial pressure. More generally write ${\mu }_{\mathrm{m},i}={\mu }_{\mathrm{m},i}^{\circ }+RT\ln a_i$ using its thermodynamic activity $a_i$ and a consistent standard state. For an ideal dilute chemical solution, $a_i=c_i/c^{\circ }$ with reference concentration $c^{\circ }$; the thermodynamic activity section describes departures from this idealization.

As a computed comparison, take identical chemical species at $T=300\mathrm{K}$, with $p_A=2p^{\circ }$ and $p_B=p^{\circ }$. Stipulate $R=8.314462618\mathrm{J}\mathrm{mo}{\mathrm{l}}^{-1}{\mathrm{K}}^{-1}$. ThenHalving the pressure gives the same decrement whether starting from $2p^{\circ }$ or $20p^{\circ }$, provided the ideal gas approximation remains valid. This comparison uses different pressures; it is not the common-pressure reservoir setup of chemical potential equality for particle exchange. The fixed-volume example in chemical potential and Helmholtz free energy supplies an exchange experiment with unequal initial pressures.