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Physics LibreTexts

6.1: Maxwell Relations

( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\)

For a system with one constituent with fixed number of particles, from the first and second laws, and from Equation 5.1.10, we have the basic relations

dU=TdSpdVdH=TdSVdpdF=SdTpdVdG=SdTVdp

The quantities on the left are all perfect differentials. For a general differential dR of the form

dR=Xdx+Ydy

to be a perfect differential, the necessary and sufficient condition is

(Xy)x=(Yx)y

Applying this to the four differentials in ???, we get

(TV)S=(pS)V(Tp)S=(VS)p(SV)T=(pT)V(Sp)T=(VT)p

These four relations are called the Maxwell relations.

A Mathematical Result

Let X, Y, Z be three variables, of which only two are independent. Taking Z to be a function of X and Y, we can write

dZ=(ZX)YdX+(ZY)XdY

If now we take X and Z as the independent variables, we can write

dY=(YX)YdX+(YZ)XdZ

Upon substituting this result into ???, we get

dZ=[(ZX)Y+(ZY)X(YX)Z]dX+(ZY)X(YZ)XdZ

Since we are considering X and Z as independent variables now, this equation immediately yields the relations

(ZY)X(YZ)XdZ=1(ZX)Y+(ZY)X(YX)Z=0

These relations can be rewritten as

(ZY)X=1(dYdZ)X(XZ)Y(ZY)X(YX)Z=1


This page titled 6.1: Maxwell Relations is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by V. Parameswaran Nair via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.

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