A phase diagram combines plots of pressure versus temperature for the liquid-gas, solid-liquid, and solid-gas phase-transition equilibria of a substance. These diagrams indicate the physical states that exist under specific conditions of pressure and temperature and also provide the pressure dependence of the phase-transition temperatures (melting points, sublimation points, boiling points). Regions or areas labeled solid, liquid, and gas represent single phases, while lines or curves represent...

The phase of a given substance depends on the pressure and temperature. Thus, plots of pressure versus temperature showing the phase in each region provide considerable insights into the thermal properties of substances. Such plots are known as phase diagrams. For instance, in the phase diagram for water (Figure 1), the solid curve boundaries between the phases indicate phase transitions (i.e., temperatures and pressures at which the phases coexist).

The pV diagram, which is a graph of pressure versus volume of the gas under study, is helpful in describing certain aspects of the substance. When the substance behaves like an ideal gas, the ideal gas equation describes the relationship between its pressure and volume. On a pV diagram, it is common to plot an isotherm, which is a curve showing p as a function of V with the number of molecules and the temperature fixed. Then, for an ideal gas, the product of the pressure of the gas and its...

Heating a crystalline solid increases the average energy of its atoms, molecules, or ions, and the solid gets hotter. At some point, the added energy becomes large enough to partially overcome the forces holding the molecules or ions of the solid in their fixed positions, and the solid begins the process of transitioning to the liquid state or melting. At this point, the temperature of the solid stops rising, despite the continual input of heat, and it remains constant until all of the solid is...

A thermodynamic process that occurs at constant volume is called an isochoric process. According to the first law of thermodynamics, heat supplied or removed from the system is partially utilized to perform work and change the internal energy of the system. However, in an isochoric process, the volume remains constant. Hence, the work done by the system is zero. Therefore, the exchange of heat changes the internal energy of the system only. 
Suppose 1000 g of water is heated from 40...

The equilibrium between a liquid and its vapor depends on the temperature of the system; a rise in temperature causes a corresponding rise in the vapor pressure of its liquid. The Clausius-Clapeyron equation gives the quantitative relation between a substance’s vapor pressure (P) and its temperature (T); it predicts the rate at which vapor pressure increases per unit increase in temperature.