Clausius-Clapeyron relation Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
Along a first-order coexistence curve,
At a critical point the two phases merge, their entropy jump vanishes, and the latent heat tends to zero.
Dividing two extensive quantities with the same replication factor produces an intensive quantity:
Division by volume gives a density, such as mass density or energy density . Division by mass gives a specific quantity, such as specific internal energy or specific volume . Division by amount of substance gives a molar quantity, such as molar volume . Their units are respectively , , , and . The denominator must be stated: “per particle”, “per mole” and “per unit mass” are different normalizations.
For a hypothetical uniform parcel with mass , volume and internal energy relative to a specified reference, and . Three independent copies have , and ; both ratios remain unchanged. This permits comparison of materials without confusing the amount tested with the state tested.
If and are additive but the parcels have different , their composite ratio is a weighted arithmetic mean:
The denominator supplies the weights: specific internal energy uses mass weights, while mass density uses volume weights. This identity is accounting for the specified subsystems; predicting a new state after mixing also needs the relevant equation of state.
Figure 1.
Size changes extensive inventory; composite density weights each parcel by its volume
. Details.
Specific volume 2026-10-14
The volume per unit mass; for a uniform substance it is the reciprocal of mass density. The Clapeyron equation pairs a difference of specific volumes with latent heat per unit mass.
Volume per particle 2026-10-14
The volume divided by the positive number of particles . The Van der Waals equation uses this convention for , whereas specific volume divides by mass and molar volume divides by the amount of substance. With the Avogadro constant , the molar volume is .