Two additional points need to be emphasized here. First, the Ag of a reaction depends only on the free energy of the products(the final state minus that of the reactants(the initial state). The AG of a reaction is inde- pendent of the path(or molecular mechanism) of the transformation. The mecha- nism of a reaction has no effect on Ag Second, the Ag provides no informalion about the rale of a reaction. A negative A G indicates that a reaction can occur spontaneously, but it does not signify whether it will proceed at a perceptible rate. As will be dis cussed shortly(p. 188), the rate of a reaction depends on the free energy of activation(△G), which is unrelated to△G