6.1: Maxwell Relations
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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=TdS−pdVdH=TdS−VdpdF=−SdT−pdVdG=−SdT−Vdp
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
(∂X∂y)x=(∂Y∂x)y
Applying this to the four differentials in ???, we get
(∂T∂V)S=−(∂p∂S)V(∂T∂p)S=(∂V∂S)p(∂S∂V)T=(∂p∂T)V(∂S∂p)T=−(∂V∂T)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=(∂Z∂X)YdX+(∂Z∂Y)XdY
If now we take X and Z as the independent variables, we can write
dY=(∂Y∂X)YdX+(∂Y∂Z)XdZ
Upon substituting this result into ???, we get
dZ=[(∂Z∂X)Y+(∂Z∂Y)X(∂Y∂X)Z]dX+(∂Z∂Y)X(∂Y∂Z)XdZ
Since we are considering X and Z as independent variables now, this equation immediately yields the relations
(∂Z∂Y)X(∂Y∂Z)XdZ=1(∂Z∂X)Y+(∂Z∂Y)X(∂Y∂X)Z=0
These relations can be rewritten as
(∂Z∂Y)X=1(dYdZ)X(∂X∂Z)Y(∂Z∂Y)X(∂Y∂X)Z=−1