Legendre Transforms: U=U(S,V) vs U(V,P)

  • Context: Graduate 
  • Thread starter Thread starter matematikuvol
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Legendre
Join the discussion
Ask a follow-up here, or get your own question answered by working scientists, mathematicians and engineers — people, not an autocomplete.
Real named experts · corrections over time · the nuance an AI answer skips
2 replies · 2K views
matematikuvol
Messages
190
Reaction score
0
When people do Legendre transforms they suppose that [tex]U=U(S,V)[/tex]. But you can see in some books that heat is defined by:
[tex]dQ=(\frac{\partial U}{\partial P})_{V}dP+[(\frac{\partial U}{\partial V})_P+P]dV[/tex]

So they supposed obviously that [tex]U=U(V,P)[/tex].

In some books you can that internal energy is function of [tex]T,P[/tex], and in some books function of [tex]V,T[/tex]. Why then in definition of Legendre transforms of thermodynamics potential we use [tex]U=U(S,V)[/tex]. Tnx for the answer.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
You can, of course, express any thermodynamic potential by any pair of quantities you like, but there are "natural" ones. E.g. for the internal energy, [itex]U[/itex], the natural variables are [itex]S[/itex] and [itex]V[/itex], because of the fundamental laws of thermodynamics:

[tex]\mathrm{d} U=T \mathrm{d} S-p \mathrm{d} V.[/tex]

Now you can define other potentials to have other "natural" independent variables by Legendre transformations. E.g. the free energy trades [itex]S[/itex] for [itex]T[/itex] via:

[tex]F=U-T S.[/tex]

Taking the total differential gives

[tex]\mathrm{d} F=\mathrm{d} U - T \mathrm{d} S-S \mathrm{d} T=-S \mathrm{d} T-p \mathrm{d} V,[/tex]

etc.
 
Tnx. Do I get something with Legendre transforms if I defined
[tex]U=U(T,P)[/tex]?