In thermodynamics, a physical property is any property that is measurable, and whose value describes a state of a physical system. Thermodynamic properties are defined as characteristic features of a system, capable of specifying the system's state. Some constants, such as the ideal gas constant, R, do not describe the state of a system, and so are not properties. On the other hand, some constants, such as Kf (the freezing point depression constant, or cryoscopic constant), depend on the identity of a substance, and so may be considered to describe the state of a system, and therefore may be considered physical properties.
"Specific" properties are expressed on a per mass basis. If the units were changed from per mass to, for example, per mole, the property would remain as it was (i.e., intensive or extensive).
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Transcription
Regarding work and heat
Work and heat are not thermodynamic properties, but rather process quantities: flows of energy across a system boundary. Systems do not contain work, but can perform work, and likewise, in formal thermodynamics, systems do not contain heat, but can transfer heat. Informally, however, a difference in the energy of a system that occurs solely because of a difference in its temperature is commonly called heat, and the energy that flows across a boundary as a result of a temperature difference is "heat".
Altitude (or elevation) is usually not a thermodynamic property. Altitude can help specify the location of a system, but that does not describe the state of the system. An exception would be if the effect of gravity need to be considered in order to describe a state, in which case altitude could indeed be a thermodynamic property.
See also
- Conjugate variables
- Dimensionless numbers
- Intensive and extensive properties
- Thermodynamic databases for pure substances
- Thermodynamic variable
References
- ^ Aylward, Gordon; Findlay, Tristan (2002), SI Chemical Data 5th ed. (5 ed.), Sweden: John Wiley & Sons, p. 202, ISBN 0-470-80044-5
- ^ Cengel, Yunus A.; Boles, Michael A. (2002). Thermodynamics: an engineering approach. Boston: McGraw-Hill. p. 79. ISBN 0-07-121688-X.