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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.
where S is the entropy of the system, k B is the Boltzmann constant, and Ω the number of microstates. At absolute zero there is only 1 microstate possible ( Ω = 1 as all the atoms are identical for a pure substance, and as a result all orders are identical as there is only one combination) and ln ( 1 ) = 0 {\displaystyle \ln(1)=0} .
Firstly, thermo-("of heat"; used in words such as thermometer) can be traced back to the root θέρμη therme, meaning "heat". Secondly, the word dynamics ("science of force [or power]") [22] can be traced back to the root δύναμις dynamis, meaning "power". [23] In 1849, the adjective thermo-dynamic is used by William Thomson. [24] [25]
Properties of isolated, closed, and open thermodynamic systems in exchanging energy and matter. A thermodynamic system is a body of matter and/or radiation separate from its surroundings that can be studied using the laws of thermodynamics. Thermodynamic systems can be passive and active according to internal processes.
The number of second derivatives which are independent of each other is relatively small, which means that most material properties can be described in terms of just a few "standard" properties. For the case of a single component system, there are three properties generally considered "standard" from which all others may be derived:
The above derivation uses the first and second laws of thermodynamics. The first law of thermodynamics is essentially a definition of heat, i.e. heat is the change in the internal energy of a system that is not caused by a change of the external parameters of the system.
The number is always two or more; usually it is not more than some dozen. Though the number of state variables is fixed by experiment, there remains choice of which of them to use for a particular convenient description; a given thermodynamic system may be alternatively identified by several different choices of the set of state variables.
Thermal physics, generally speaking, is the study of the statistical nature of physical systems from an energetic perspective. Starting with the basics of heat and temperature, thermal physics analyzes the first law of thermodynamics and second law of thermodynamics from the statistical perspective, in terms of the number of microstates corresponding to a given macrostate.