Property vs. State

The concept of properties and state. Properties are characteristics or attributes that can be quantitatively evaluated, while state describes the condition of an object using a list of properties.

StateProperties
Chemicalchemical composition, free charge, energy, entropy etc.
Electromagneticelectric field strength, magnetic dipole moment, charge, etc.
Aestheticcolor, design, odor, etc
Geometriclength, width, breadth, volume, etc.
Hydrodynamicpressure, shearing stress, strain rate, etc.
Kinematicposition, speed, acceleration, etc.
Thermodynamicenergy, temperature, volume, pressure, enthalpy, entropy, etc.

Property

Property is any characteristic or attribute which can be quantitatively evaluated.

  • Pressure, temperature, velocity, energy, etc. are all properties
  • Things that are done, like work or heat flow, are not properties

State

The state of an object is its condition described by a list of properties. For example:

  • Temperature and pressure may describe the state of a gas

The properties needed to describe the state of an object varies with the object and the microscopic versus macroscopic view of the object.

Property vs. State | MEPKit Engineering Tools | MEPKit