Closed Simple System
A common example in which the state can be succinctly described is a closed simple system in an equilibrium state. A closed simple system is an ideal system devoid of any internal adiabatic, rigid, or impermeable boundaries and not being acted upon by any external force fields or inertial forces. Based on observation, scientists and engineers have postulated that the state of a simple system at equilibrium can be completely characterized by specifying two independent property variables, such as temperature and pressure, and the masses of the particular chemical species in the system. Relying on this postulate, for many chemical species, phase distribution and intrinsic phase properties such as density, heat capacity, thermal conductivity, viscosity, enthalpy, and entropy have been reproducibly measured and catalogued as functions of temperature and pressure.
Read more about this topic: Thermodynamic State
Famous quotes containing the words closed, simple and/or system:
“Don: Why are they closed? They’re all closed, every one of them.
Pawnbroker: Sure they are. It’s Yom Kippur.
Don: It’s what?
Pawnbroker: It’s Yom Kippur, a Jewish holiday.
Don: It is? So what about Kelly’s and Gallagher’s?
Pawnbroker: They’re closed, too. We’ve got an agreement. They keep closed on Yom Kippur and we don’t open on St. Patrick’s.”
—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)
“When I think of God, when I think of him as existent, and when I believe him to be existent, my idea of him neither increases nor diminishes. But as it is certain there is a great difference betwixt the simple conception of the existence of an object, and the belief of it, and as this difference lies not in the parts or composition of the idea which we conceive; it follows, that it must lie in the manner in which we conceive it.”
—David Hume (1711–1776)
“Every political system is an accumulation of habits, customs, prejudices, and principles that have survived a long process of trial and error and of ceaseless response to changing circumstances. If the system works well on the whole, it is a lucky accident—the luckiest, indeed, that can befall a society.”
—Edward C. Banfield (b. 1916)