Editing Convex hull (section)

===Thermodynamics===
[[File:Mg–C convex hull.png|thumb|Convex hull of [[magnesium]]–[[carbon]] compounds.{{sfnp|Kim|Kim|Koo|Lee|2019}} Mg<sub>2</sub>C<sub>3</sub> is expected to be unstable as it lies above the lower hull.]]
A convex hull in [[thermodynamics]] was identified by [[Josiah Willard Gibbs]] (1873),{{sfnp|Gibbs|1873}} although the paper was published before the convex hull was so named.
In a set of energies of several [[Stoichiometry|stoichiometries]] of a material, only those measurements on the lower convex hull will be stable. When removing a point from the hull and then calculating its distance to the hull, its distance to the new hull represents the degree of stability of the phase.<ref>{{harvtxt|Hautier|2014}}; {{harvtxt|Fultz|2020}}</ref>