Path-Independent?
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Path-Independent?
This is not exactly a term that was directly mentioned in class, but I have heard the term "path-independent" before and was wondering if something being path-independent is the same thing as it being a state property?
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Re: Path-Independent?
I believe this is true in a sense. I think the best way to understand path- independence is if you heat something up from 0 to 100 then it drops to 50 to create the final product, the change would just be final to initial heat. This is what I understood from the lecture yesterday. Please do correct me if I'm wrong.
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Re: Path-Independent?
Yes, I do believe path-independent is a viable relationship to the idea of a state property. When first learning about the state property in Professor Lavelle's lecture, I thought of the relationship between distance and displacement. Distance implies following an object through its entire journey, including all its twists, turns, backwards movement, and forward movement. Displacement on the other hand, is only concerned with the net change in movement; in other words, similar to a state property.
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Re: Path-Independent?
Yes, one of the properties of state functions is that the path is insignificant in its value.
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Re: Path-Independent?
Path-independent properties are synonymous with state properties. However, the term "state properties" is more widely used. Also, a cool thing to add is that sometimes Path-Dependent properties are called process properties. Physical Chemistry likes to have multiple terms meanings roughly the same thing.
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Re: Path-Independent?
Hi! I believe that something being path-independent is the same as it being a state property. State properties are defined by the fact that the path taken to reach the final state from the initial state is not necessary in order to calculate its change. For example, the path one takes from the bottom of the mountain to the top is not necessary to calculate the change in amplitude the hiker experiences. This is why amplitude is a state property, or as you mentioned, path-independent.
Hope this helps!
Hope this helps!
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Re: Path-Independent?
Since his definition of a state variable is a variable in which we can ignore the path taken from the initial to final states, I believe your assumption is correct. When studying state variables like temperature, we ignore how the temperature went from for example 100 degrees Celsius to 50 degrees Celsius, and instead focus on the values of the initial and final states when doing calculations.
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