Talk:List of thermodynamic properties

Altitude a Property?
Altitude is not a property, if you're thinking of position in gravity field that's a different matter, but altitude, especially as defined in the linking article has nothing to do with gravity effects.

I agree with the above anonymous comment about altitude. It gives the location of something, but that is not, I think, part of describing the state of a system. I'll delete that entry. Christopher King (talk) 20:18, 17 December 2015 (UTC)

Heat and Work Properties?
I disagree in putting Heat as a property, is not defined that way in thermodynamics books. Paquitotrek (talk) 20:06, 17 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Re:Paquitotrek, if Work is a property, how come Heat isn't? If you have a problem with one, you'd have a problem with both.


 * Neither heat nor work is a material property in formal thermodynamics, both are instead (integrals of) energy flows across a boundary. Informally, however, one speaks of heat content when referring to energy gained and lost through changes in temperature. To avoid adding to the confusion, it’s best to remove heat from the list. Eric Drexler (talk) 16:24, 20 April 2014 (UTC)

The article currently says the following at the end:
 * Regarding Work and Heat:
 * Note that work and heat above are listed as process quantities: They are not thermodynamic properties, but flows of energy across a system boundary. Systems do not contain work, but can perform work, and likewise, in formal thermodynamics, systems do not contain heat, but can transfer heat. Informally, however, a difference in the energy of a system that occurs solely because of a difference in its temperature is commonly called heat, and the energy that flows across a boundary as a result of a temperature difference is "heat".

I agree with this statement, namely, that they are not thermodyanmic properties, so I'll remove them from the list. Christopher King (talk) 20:30, 17 December 2015 (UTC)

A Constant Is Not a Property
I removed the "Gas constant" and "Specific gas constant" from the list. I don't believe those are thermodynamic properties. The article on physical properties begins with "A physical property is any property that is measurable, whose value describes a state of a physical system. The changes in the physical properties of a system can be used to describe its transformations or evolutions between its momentary states." Having done that, I think I'll try to say something at the start of this article about what a thermodynamic property is/isn't. Christopher King (talk) 19:39, 17 December 2015 (UTC)

Which Symbols Should Be Listed?
The way this article is written makes it seem as though there is one and only one symbol that is commonly used for many of these quantities. If only.... Is the intent to list one symbol that has been used to represent that quantity, the most common symbol used for that quantity, or all symbols that are commonly used for that quantity in textbooks and journal articles? Just the internal energy alone could arguably have 10 or more symbols associated with it, depending on the author. There is a citation to Čengel and Boles at one point, but their notation is hardly the most common (and indeed is downright odd at times). Kaiserkarl13 (talk) 20:43, 19 January 2024 (UTC)