Different Thermodynamic Pathways with Identical Endpoints

1 DIFFERENT THERMODYNAMIC PATHWAYS WITH IDENTICAL ENDPOINTS 

The similarities of A, B, and C oumumber the differences. Even so, each presents a unique locus of state points. Pathway A marks an isothermal path that conforms to the van der Waals equation 

Pathways A and B are identical in the beginning and terminal regions. Pathway B, however, stems from the Maxwell construction applied to A the horizontal line divides the loop region into equal areas i and ii. The result is that the gas pressure does not alter over the region bounded approximately by 1 x 10- and 4 x 10 meter. Constant pressure manifests in spite of the volume tuning along B. 

FIGURE 5.1 Pathways with identical initial and final states. A, B, and C pertain to 1.00 

Pathway C marks a straight-line path in the pVplane. Although the beginning and terminal states share the same temperature, there is a unique T for every intermediate state. 

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