9: Exact and Inexact Differentials
- Page ID
- 106860
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- Understand the concept of the total differential
- Understand the concept of exact and inexact differentials.
- Be able to test whether a differential is exact or not.
- Understand how to integrate differentials along different paths.
- Understand the role of exact and inexact differentials in thermodynamics.
Thumbnail: These are just three of the infinitely many paths between a state at point A at some time to point B at some other time. A discussion of exact and inexact differentials is strongly connected to understanding the differences between paths and states (CC BY-SA 3.0; Matt McIrvin via Wikipedia)