work that can be obtained when the considered system is brought into reaction with reference substances present in the environment. Defining the exergy reference environment is one of the most vital parts of analyzing chemical exergy. In general, the environment is defined as the composition of air at 25 °C and 1 atm of pressure. At these properties air consists of N2=75.67%, O2=20.35%, H2O(g)=3.12%, CO2=0.03% and other gases=0.83%. These molar fractions will become of use when applying Equation 8 below. CaHbOc is the substance that is entering a system that one wants to find the maximum theoretical work of. By using the following equations, one can calculate the chemical exergy of the substance in a given system. Below, Equation 8 uses the Gibbs function of the applicable element or compound to calculate the chemical exergy. Equation 9 is similar but uses standard molar chemical exergy, which scientists have determined based on several criteria, including the ambient temperature and pressure that a system is being analyzed and the concentration of the most common components. These values can be found in thermodynamic books or in online tables. Important equations where: is the Gibbs function of the specific substance in the system at . ( refers to the substance that is entering the system) is the Universal gas constant (8.314462 J/mol•K) is the temperature that the system is being evaluated at in absolute temperature is the molar fraction of the given substance in the environment, i.e. air where is the standard molar chemical exergy taken from a table for the specific conditions that the system is being evaluated. Equation 9 is more commonly used due to the simplicity of only having to look up the standard chemical exergy for given substances. Using a standard table works well for most cases, even if the environmental conditions vary slightly, the difference is most likely negligible. Total exergy After finding the chemical exergy in a given system, one can find the total exergy by adding it to the thermomechanical exergy. Depending on the situation, the amount of chemical exergy added can be very small. If the system being evaluated involves combustion, the amount of chemical exergy is very large and necessary to find the total exergy of the system. Irreversibility Irreversibility accounts for the amount of exergy destroyed in a closed system, or in other words, the wasted work potential. This is also called dissipated energy.