Concept information
Preferred term
thermodynamic potential
Definition(s)
- A thermodynamic potential (or more accurately, a thermodynamic potential energy) is a scalar quantity used to represent the thermodynamic state of a system. The concept of thermodynamic potentials was introduced by Pierre Duhem in 1886. Josiah Willard Gibbs in his papers used the term fundamental functions. One main thermodynamic potential that has a physical interpretation is the internal energy U. It is the energy of configuration of a given system of conservative forces (that is why it is called potential) and only has meaning with respect to a defined set of references (or data). Expressions for all other thermodynamic energy potentials are derivable via Legendre transforms from an expression for U. (Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermodynamic_potential)
Broader concept(s)
In other languages
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French
URI
http://data.loterre.fr/ark:/67375/MDL-X4P8C12K-D
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