State Functions and Path Functions
March 22, 2021
State Functions
A physical quantity is said to be a state function if its value depends only upon the state of the system and does not depend upon the path by which this state has benn attained
Example: pressure, volume, temperature
A state function describes the equilibrium state of a system. For example energy, enthalpy, entropy are state quantities because they describe quantitatively an equilibrium state of a thermodynamic system, irrespective of how the system arrived in that state.
Path Function
Path functions are properties or quantities whose values depend on the transition of a system from the initial state to the final state. The two most common path functions are heat and work.