Thermodynamics MOC

Thermodynamic potential

A thermodynamic potential is an extensive quantity which is naturally¹ a function of the natural² independent variables and whose minimization or maximization follows from the ^P4 when these independent variables are held constant.

Equations of state

To show that a quantity is naturally a function of parameters , one takes the Exterior derivative and shows , where are 0-forms. One then arrives at the equations of state

Examples

• Entropy
• Helmholtz free energy
• Gibbs free energy
• Enthalpy
• Landau free energy

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Footnotes

1. i.e. by the First law of thermodynamics. ↩

2. a natural choice of variables for the situation at hand, i.e. the intensive or extensive parameters that can be controlled directly. ↩