State Function (Paperback)

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! In thermodynamics, a state function, state quantity, or a function of state, is a property of a system that depends only on the current state of the system, not on the way in which the system acquired that state. A state function describes the equilibrium state of a system. For example, internal energy, enthalpy and entropy are state quantities because they describe quantitatively an equilibrium state of thermodynamic systems. In contrast, mechanical work and heat are process quantities because they describe quantitatively the transition between equilibrium states of thermodynamic systems.