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In thermodynamics, the phase rule is a general principle governing multi-component, multi-phase systems in thermodynamic equilibrium.For a system without chemical reactions, it relates the number of freely varying intensive properties (F) to the number of components (C), the number of phases (P), and number of ways of performing work on the system (N): [1] [2] [3]: 123–125
The discontinuity in , and other properties, e.g. internal energy, , and entropy,, of the substance, is called a first order phase transition. [12] [13] In order to specify the unique experimentally observed pressure, (), at which it occurs another thermodynamic condition is required, for from Fig.1 it could clearly occur for any pressure in the range .
Phase transitions and critical exponents appear in many physical systems such as water at the critical point, in magnetic systems, in superconductivity, in percolation and in turbulent fluids. The critical dimension above which mean field exponents are valid varies with the systems and can even be infinite.
A plot of typical polymer solution phase behavior including two critical points: a LCST and an UCST. The liquid–liquid critical point of a solution, which occurs at the critical solution temperature, occurs at the limit of the two-phase region of the phase diagram. In other words, it is the point at which an infinitesimal change in some ...
where α is an exponent specific to the system (e.g. in the absence of a potential field, α = 3/2), z is exp(μ/k B T) where μ is the chemical potential, Li is the polylogarithm, ζ is the Riemann zeta function, and T c is the critical temperature at which a Bose–Einstein condensate begins to form.
A generic phase diagram with unspecified axes; the invariant point is marked in red, metastable extensions labeled in blue, relevant reactions noted on stable ends of univariant lines. This rule is geometrically sound in the construction of phase diagrams since for every metastable reaction, there must be a phase that is relatively stable. This ...
As we approach the critical point, these diverging observables behave as () for some exponent , where, typically, the value of the exponent α is the same above and below T c. These exponents are called critical exponents and are robust observables. Even more, they take the same values for very different physical systems.
In physics, chemistry, and other related fields like biology, a phase transition (or phase change) is the physical process of transition between one state of a medium and another. Commonly the term is used to refer to changes among the basic states of matter : solid , liquid , and gas , and in rare cases, plasma .