Free energy may refer to:
In science:
- Thermodynamic free energy, the energy in a physical system that can be converted to do work, in particular:
- Helmholtz free energy, the energy that can be converted into work at a constant temperature and volume
- Work content, a related concept used in chemistry
- Gibbs free energy, the energy that can be converted into work at a uniform temperature and pressure throughout a system
- Variational free energy, a construct from Information theory that is used in Variational Bayesian methods
In pseudoscience:
- Free energy device, a hypothetical device that creates energy in a hypothetical isolated system, i.e. without any external input, thereby contradicting the laws of thermodynamics
- Free energy suppression, a conspiracy theory that advanced energy technologies are being suppressed by special interest groups
In music
- Free Energy (band), a 5-piece rock band on DFA Records
Famous quotes containing the words free and/or energy:
“Have you ever been up in your plane at night, alone, somewhere, 20,000 feet above the ocean?... Did you ever hear music up there?... It’s the music a man’s spirit sings to his heart, when the earth’s far away and there isn’t any more fear. It’s the high, fine, beautiful sound of an earth-bound creature who grew wings and flew up high and looked straight into the face of the future. And caught, just for an instant, the unbelievable vision of a free man in a free world.”
—Dalton Trumbo (1905–1976)
“Three elements go to make up an idea. The first is its intrinsic quality as a feeling. The second is the energy with which it affects other ideas, an energy which is infinite in the here-and-nowness of immediate sensation, finite and relative in the recency of the past. The third element is the tendency of an idea to bring along other ideas with it.”
—Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914)