Properties and State

Concept of properties and state

Property

Property is any characteristic or attribute which can be quantitatively evaluated.

  • Pressure, temperature, velocity, energy, etc. are all properties

Things that are done, like work or heat flow, are not properties.

State

The state of an object is its condition described by a list of properties. For example

  • temperature and pressure may describe the state of a gas

The properties needed to describe the state of an object varies with the object and the microscopic versus macroscopic view of the object.

Some common states and their often used properties:

State Common Properties
describing the state
Chemical chemical composition, free charge, energy, entropy etc.
Electromagnetic electric field strength, magnetic dipole moment, charge, etc.
Esthetic color, design, odor, etc
Geometric length, width, breadth, volume, etc.
Hydrodynamic pressure, shearing stress, strain rate, etc.
Kinematic position, speed, acceleration, etc.
Thermodynamic energy, temperature, volume, pressure, enthalpy, entropy, etc.

Search the Engineering ToolBox

Engineering ToolBox - SketchUp Edition - Online 3D modeling!

3D Engineering ToolBox - draw and model technical applications

Engineering ToolBox - SketchUp Edition - enabled for use with the amazing, fun and free Google SketchUp

Translate the Engineering ToolBox
About the EngineeringToolbox